College: Online vs Campus

canine224

I think I have decided to put my dreams on a back burner for now so I can at least get into a career to help support my family. I know it will probably be years before I can get back to them but I want to be able to give my kids what they want when they get older.

I needs some advice about a topic I am not as informed on, and am having issues finding any helpful information for online, to help with a decision I need to make. I want to know how big of a difference, if any at all, it would make to get a degree online compared to on-campus for the career I want to pursue. The career I want to pursue is programming.

I do not have a full grasp of any language as of yet but a while back with I was trying to learn C++ that really gave me no issue. I had to give up teaching myself at the time though as I did not have enough time with working overtime at my job and taking care of my newborn (first child).

I know that having a degree, while not necessary if you have experience, is extremely helpful in obtaining jobs even if you are not as experienced as other candidates who are seeking the same job. In my position at my current job I see everyone that gets hired/fired and I have seen plenty of people get jobs they did not deserve only because they had went to college and the better candidates had not.

There will likely be no problem with me teaching myself how to program in whatever languages I want to learn but what I would like to know, hopefully from someone in a position to hire people, is which is more beneficial to have on a resume when applying for a job as a programmer, having went to college online or at a campus? I remember at one point when I was in high school back in the early 2000's (wow I feel old) I remember counselors saying that some career fields consider people who received a degree online to be no different than someone without a degree at all. I really want to know this because if that is the case in this field I will wait till my wife finishes college to start college at a campus but if there is no difference I will go ahead and start taking online courses so that when she finishes I will be closer to a degree and be able to finish up quickly.

Either way I am going to teach myself most of what I need to know and am only really going to go for a degree more as something to put on a resume than to show what I learned but I want to know what is the best course for me to take from here so I can reach my goal of supporting my family.

(Sidenote: I find it kind of funny that regardless of what a lot of goals are as kids we want to become rockstars at whatever career we end up in, such as being the best video game designer or to have your own business become successful enough to take it global, but once we get older and have kids out goals shift from ourselves onto how to get our kids to become the rockstars they want to be.)

Apreche

If you want a degree for cheap, do the same trick as Jameskun. Find a cheap community college that has a great CS professor and go there. Then at the last second transfer to a school with a fancy name. Take just enough credits at the fancy school so that you get a degree from them instead of the community college. It's like a tuition discount.

Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)

No matter where you go, make sure the college is non-profit and accredited. If it's not, it's almost certainly not worth your money for the quality of teaching you'll get.

If you're looking for a resume stuffer, I'd second community college - those are quick and cheap compared to other colleges, and can still teach you a lot.

Ruffas

And you could always take online classes at a regular university/community college.

canine224

I did not think about going to a community college and then transferring to a big name one. I am glad I decided to ask about it instead of just making the decision myself as that would not have occurred to me probably.

And you could always take online classes at a regular university/community college.

I was looking for that option but I had issues finding a regular college that does online courses that did not want me to go up to the college on any regular basis. No college local to me does any form of computer science at this time. The college in my city actually used to when it was a community college but once they became a full college that was one of the programs that had to be dropped to make room for more useful degrees according them, although I am unsure how they came to that conclusion. Once my wife graduates it will be less of an issue since we can move but for now I am restricted to this area. I do want to also point out that my college finding skills suck too, but I will keep trying to find that option where I can.

Thank you all for the advice.

George Patches

If you want a degree for cheap, do the same trick as Jameskun. Find a cheap community college that has a great CS professor and go there. Then at the last second transfer to a school with a fancy name. Take just enough credits at the fancy school so that you get a degree from them instead of the community college. It's like a tuition discount.

^This.

I did community college until there was no more classes to take that challenged my mental skills then I moved to a 4 year state school (Penn State FTW).

canine224

From the sound of it going to an online only college seems to be a bad idea.

Dr. Timo

From the sound of it going to an online only college seems to be a bad idea.

Very. Have a poke around iTunes U, there are a lot of very prestigious Universities putting up courses for free. Not enough to make a full curriculum, but certainly enough to get you started.

Apreche

From the sound of it going to an online only college seems to be a bad idea.

Very. Have a poke around iTunes U, there are a lot of very prestigious Universities putting up courses for free. Not enough to make a full curriculum, but certainly enough to get you started.

MIT Open Courseware and many others. If you just want to learn and don't want to pay money for a piece of paper, Internet learning is the way to go.

canine224

Very. Have a poke around iTunes U, there are a lot of very prestigious Universities putting up courses for free. Not enough to make a full curriculum, but certainly enough to get you started.

Thanks for the information. One of my friends recommended to look on iTunes U as well. At least I know where not to look for college now.

MIT Open Courseware and many others. If you just want to learn and don't want to pay money for a piece of paper, Internet learning is the way to go.

I planned on using online resources, including that one when I can, to teach myself. The only real reason I want the piece of paper is I know that it helps getting hired even if I am not the most qualified candidate. Not that I agree with that concept but I have seen it happen a lot.

In this case I think the most I will do, as far as taking college courses goes, is wait until my wife graduates so I have time to go. I may take online course from my local college for some of the core classes but I will have to move for anything else. I will still teach myself what I need anyway in the mean time.

I appreciate all of the information.

Apreche

Also night school. Get a degree very slowly while also working.

canine224

I would do that right now but I currently work at night and have 2 children for the other parts of the day to keeps me busy. My wife is going through school full-time right now. If I can get a day job I am definitely going to go for the night school idea but as it is the only option I really have is for online at this time.

Gergor

I've never heard of an online-only degree with a respectable reputation. I think they are a waste of money - if you have the motivation to learn in that format you could have learned without it, and the degree itself isn't worth much coming from them.

I'm really chiming in to second going the community college -> 4-year route. It's what I did, and the only downside was missing the social aspects of the first two years of college (such as dorms, an easy course load allowing more socialization, and forced social activities). It wasn't missing much in the end, and I'm happy with my choice.

Pegu

http://code.google.com/edu/

canine224

http://code.google.com/edu/

Thanks for the information.

canine224

One more question as I was just looking and realized that there is a lot of different verbiage for degrees in computer science. Does it matter if it is just a degree in computer science or should it have the terms "software engineering" (or something to that affect) in it?

I was just wondering as when I was looking while bored I noticed there are lots of different terms that colleges use and did not know if there was a significant difference.

Rym

Does it matter if it is just a degree in computer science or should it have the terms "software engineering" (or something to that affect) in it?

There are substantial differences between the different computer degrees. Software Engineering is not the same as Computer Science, which is not the same as Computer Engineering or Information Technology.

Apreche

Does it matter if it is just a degree in computer science or should it have the terms "software engineering" (or something to that affect) in it?

There are substantial differences between the different computer degrees. Software Engineering is not the same as Computer Science, which is not the same as Computer Engineering or Information Technology.

Yes, but all of them have equal power of getting jobs. The question is exactly what you want to learn.

Rym

Yes, but all of them have equal power of getting jobs.

Well, except for CIS degrees... ;^)

canine224

Yes, but all of them have equal power of getting jobs. The question is exactly what you want to learn.

Well, what I want to learn is probably closer to Information Technology but what I really meant with the question was the ability of the degree to get a job.

Rym

what I really meant with the question was the ability of the degree to get a job.

They'll all get you a job, assuming you live in or move to a larger city and are willing to relocate if necessary. They might get you a job elsewhere, but it's far from guaranteed.

IT, you have two roads. If you don't make industry contacts and get a good position doing production-level work straight out of university, you might get trapped in corporate-level IT forever, which itself has the trap desktop-support-level IT within it. Not that the pay there can't be good, but the work can border on soul-crushing depending on where you are.

The IT real money is in enterprise and/or production IT.

canine224

I have no problem relocating, I even planned on it since living in such a rural area is boring. As far as soul-crushing work I am definitely not shooting for that, although in the job I am in it would not be a big change either.

I would do what I consider the smart thing out of college and move to the NY/NJ area since I know there are more opportunities their and down the line maybe think about going somewhere else. I will probably keep asking more question as I think of them about this. I appreciate all of the advice.