I am 33 year old and been in IT/testing for about 7 years. Have worked in all aspects of software development Recently I have been thinking about shifting to development as I have been doing a lot of scripting to automate some QA tasks and it’s a lot more fun than testing software. I also have GI bill from my days in Military to pay for college and want to get a degree in Computer Science. I was thinking about doing Masters part time while working and with my long work schedule and tight release cycles hardly get any time to study What would people here recommend? Take some time off from work to go back to a Brick and mortar University and get my Masters or should I keep working and get a degree from Online University like Devry or strayers.All I am interested is in Application programming for fun and move in development.
If you choose an online university, make sure it is accredited by one of the same bodies as the "respected" brick and mortar schools such as University of Illinois or other state schools. If it isn't so accredited, it's not going to be a real degree.
I am told that online courses are actually more difficult than brick and mortar courses. I have a few friends who have tried them, and they say that it is difficult to do courses this way without the benefit of direct, face to face interaction with the teachers and the other students.
I looked at several online schools before deciding to go to Phoenix University for my degrees. I wrote a paper a week, gave PowerPoint presentations, and worked on assignments in groups. I did that for about 4 years, and now I have a bachelor's and masters, and sixty thousand dollars of debt.
Phoenix is a brick and mortar school. It is designed for working adults, so they make the class schedules convenient. Rather than requiring an arduous registration process, they put you in a classroom and rotate the teachers through the classroom until your classes are completed. Each class lasts five to six weeks.
Reactions to Phoenix are mixed. Although more than one of my friends felt they could have gotten a better educational value for the money they put out, the degree does seem to be well respected in the industries for which they offer degrees.
Am I glad I did it? Yes. Wish I'd done it 20 years ago.
Why pay for something that is free?
Free Online MIT Courses in CPSC
The only thing it will cost is your own motivation. The materials are some of the best and the content superb overall.
I would definitely encourage you to move into development -- it's intellectually challenging and fun in that respect, and the money's pretty good. I wouldn't discourage you from getting a degree, but you might also consider simply doing some technical courses or picking a language and slogging through several books or the like (especially if you already have a bachelors -- which it sounds like given you're thinking of a Master's). Especially with a lot of QA background, you may find you can parlay your way into development by demonstrating to the programmers interviewing you by showing a non-trivial body of code that you've worked on. Another approach of course is some kind of industry certification -- I'm doing one myself now to see where it leads, even though I've been programming long enough that arguably I don't need it.
My own background is that of a guy with a Master's Degree in the History and Philosophy of Science, a burning desire to become a programmer, and a copy of Turbo C++. :)
First, forget the degree for now. Sounds like you don't have enough time and if you attempted it you would do a half ass job and flunkout anyway because of the time thing. Your other choice - quitting a job in the middle of a recession (for any reason) can lead to bad things.
You obviously work in a busy IT department somewhere, walk down to the developer’s bullpen and tell them what you just told us. Ask them what tools they are using, take notes… connect with the mentor in the group (this might take a few visits). Learn the tools they use. You are stairing at the product of those tools all day and hearing the issues with them. You are also seeing what to expect from those tools.
Start a project or two in these tools at home. Watch the webcasts and then get a good book on those tools. Go to the user group meetings for those tools. Talk to the mentor or developers for some help. You are working now for a company that employs developers using the same tools you just learned. I wouldn’t be surprised if a year from now you had moved into the developer’s bullpen.
I was a lowly laborer working construction each summers during collage. I asked my brother, who is a fulltime construction worker, how I could do jobs that were more interesting then digging holes and moving lumber from point A to point B. I wanted to do metal stud, acoustical ceiling, etc. , he said something so simple…. “just show up with a tool belt and tools”. Went to Sears that night and showed up the next day with all the tools everyone else had. Sure enough, during the morning assignments I was sent for the first time to be a carpenter’s assistant.
So I’m saying, build the tool belt from the things around you at your current work and work on the rest from there.
It is standard career development practice for people about your age / at your point in their technical careers to get a Master's Degree. Here are some of the benefits as I see them:
- You get a chance to go deep on areas that interest you.
- You have a chance to gain breadth in areas that you might be weak in or realize you need for your career.
- It increases your promotability. This is a reality in any marketplace.
- It increases your conversation topics in future interviews. "Tell me about course X that your took during your Master's."
- Putting money on the table for your degree forces you to take it seriously. It's great to say "I'm going to learn this on my own." Sometimes it's even better to say "I spent cash money on this course. I'm sure as hell going to learn the material."
Now for some reality:
- As you have the GI bill available to you (good for you, by the way), that's something that you should strongly consider leveraging.
- There's nothing wrong with a part-time Master's degree. I would advise signing up for less coursework than you think you can handle to ensure that your schedule can really take it.
- Look into continuing education / professional education programs at your area schools. There's a good chance that you'll be in classes with grown-ups. Your mileage may vary but people I know preferred this style rather than jumping in with the youngish day students.
Punchline:
Around here, a committed development engineer with experience in testing (aka the School of Hard Knocks and How to Break Software) and military service would be a desirable commodity. So, yes, I would think you should go for it. Good luck.
I had a terrible experience with UMUC; essentially, I felt that their classes were only certifying that you knew something, but not teaching it to you. I've moved to Penn State World Campus - also online - and had much better luck with online education there. There is a HUGE difference school-to-school.
That said, I've been working as a developer for a decade before entering the online education sphere. I've been a lead developer and hiring manager in that decade, so here goes.
Figure out what you might like to learn how to program. Spend an academic semester - before even applying to school - just playing with that technology on your own. If you manage to learn Data Structures, which would be the second academic course you'd take in CS, you've accomplished enough to start working as a developer.
Thinking in Java is a great, free book on getting started on that path.