Looking to further education

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Hello: I started learning programming here a year and a half ago. This January I finished a course that introduced me to Java, Spring and mySQL—my goal is to enter the workforce as a Java developer.

I’d like to have a fruitful career in IT, so I think—from my research—that education that can give me a strong CS foundation would be appropriate: It would give me more options moving forward and job security. I’m going to be 42 in August. Here’s what I’ve been pondering over:

Undergrad in CS: You guessed it—because of my age and having multiple degrees (not CS related), it feels like taking some steps back. Does anyone disagree? It’d likely be a good option depending upon what one would like to do.

Graduate degree: The University of Pennsylvania offers a Masters for those who do not posses a CS undergrad degree. It appears to be a viable and overall good option.

Another option: The University of Stanford offers a certificate called Foundations in CS Graduate Certificate. The focus of the certificate is math.

https://online.stanford.edu/programs/foundations-computer-science-graduate-certificate

I’d love to hear what you think.

Thanks a bunch.

P.S. Just want to make it clear that I don’t want someone to help me choose a course, but to shed light as to what would be a good path for someone in my position.

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The mainthing I’d be careful here is this part:

having multiple degrees

Multiple degrees could be a sign of trying to be too “perfect” in your skills before trying out and getting a job. I’m not sure what your other degrees are, but at least from a CS perspective, you’d learn some of the core fundamentals underpinning most developer jobs, but you’d still be lacking a lot of practical experience. Simply put, there’s too much to learn to be perfect at, even after a few years in school.

This doesn’t mean going to school is a bad idea, it could be an option, as it does give you that underlying fundamentals. At the same time, you could leverage your current background and take a whole other approach to learning and getting into IT.

As we don’t know your current background its harder to give much specific suggestions, as every case is different.

Good luck, keep learning, keep growing :+1:

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very nice i like from this

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