Ask HN: Starting a CS degree at 28?
I did something very similar, although I&#x27;m a US citizen, so I&#x27;m not sure how well my advice applies. With that caveat, I&#x27;ll answer the questions I can:<p>&gt;&gt; I would (hopefully) graduate at 32. Then what?<p>Sounds like you want to work as a dev, which you already are, but are hoping a degree will open doors at larger, more prestigious companies, perhaps for more money. Is that what you want?<p>Hopefully, you’ll have the resources to look for a job for a little while. Also, lot’s of people don’t graduate on time for various reasons. Can you handle, financially, and emotionally, finishing a semester or two later? If not, that’s a lot of pressure if anything doesn’t go exactly according to plan.<p>&gt;&gt; What doors will the degree open? Will I still care about those then (i.e., trying to get a job in the US at FAANG).<p>I would guess that it’s necessary but not sufficient. I’m guessing you also need a very good resume and coding chops, and maybe the right connections wouldn’t hurt. I have never applied to those, but I know a couple of people who work there. If you want to know what you’re in for in an interview, get a copy of ‘Cracking the Coding Interview’.<p>&gt;&gt; How much work is a CS degree for someone who&#x27;s already a programmer?<p>Getting BS in anything is a lot of work. Getting STEM degree is a fucking lot work. I had to work 60 – 80 hours a week as a CS senior. There was room for almost nothing else in my life. (Pro tip: as a student (and probably anything else hard) make time for reasonable diet, exercise, sleep, and going out side in full day light even if you think you don’t have time. If you don’t, you will go slowly insane and perform badly.)<p>The intro and mid level programming classes will be easy for you. IMHO, junior and senior CS course work are only easy for people who are repeating them, and the instructor.  Keep in mind that you will have to take lots of general requirements that might not be too hard, but are time consuming and will contain busy work. Also, you’ll probably have to take several advanced math courses, and a couple semesters of calculus based physics.  Everyone else there will have just finished taking calculus and physics in high-school or junior college or something, while you are struggling to learn or re-learn all the material they already know.<p>&gt;&gt; Can I both get a CS degree and work full-time?<p>I wouldn’t even attempt this. I was fortunate not to have to. School is a full time job. Either do it full time, or expect to go proportionately slower, and to be at a disadvantage compared to other students.<p>&gt;&gt; How likely am I to complete the degree, given that things in my life could change (opportunities, disease, motivation, depression, passion, love, children)?<p>Only you can answer this, and only by experiment. Prior academic performance might be a hint. I was very determined to finish school, and I did, but it was very stressful and personally costly to me. If you had trouble with your past performance, consider how you will better. If you did OK, but are worried about those other things getting in the way, I would ask whether those problems are hurting your performance now; if so, they aren’t going to go away by themselves so you had better have a plan to address them.<p>&gt;&gt; Should the excuses I attribute to my lack of degree be attributed to something else (mental barrier, low confidence, imposter syndrome)?<p>I don’t know, but I do know that problems with health (mental or otherwise), motivation, and priorities will not go away when you get a degree. Some employers really just won’t talk to you without the degree, hopefully it’s a listed requirement in that case, but who knows?<p>I don’t know what you feel the need to excuse, but I promise you that “mental barrier, low confidence, [and] imposter syndrome” do not go away just because we have college degrees :)<p>Maybe try counseling or CBT or something?<p>&gt;&gt; Assuming the most important part is to have a Bachelor&#x27;s degree, and not necessarily a CS degree, should I study something else in which I would actually learn something useful (as opposed to learning things I already know)?<p>Most dev jobs I have applied for list “BS Computer Science or equivalent”. Software Eng., Computer Eng., or EE might be good, but aside from SE, those are just adding hardware and electronics. Unless you want that, CS seems like a good choice. Other hard science or STEM degrees (math, physics) might be close enough, but why would you do that? A Bachelor’s of Arts, or something else unrelated seems unlikely to help you, unless you want to work for something like a state agency that just arbitrarily requires that.<p>Unless you you quit CS right at the end of your senior, how do you know you wouldn’t learn anything? In my opinion, the most valuable CS classes were probably D&amp;A, Analysis of Algorithms, Software Eng., Programming Languages&#x2F;compilers, and maybe Discrete Math.<p>Did you already learn, and still remember everything in all those courses? If so, I’m impressed! Coding interviews have tested me on this kind of stuff, and even as a recent grad, I think they are hard.<p>&gt;&gt; Is there a shortcut to get an accredited Master&#x27;s degree without getting a Bachelor&#x27;s degree?<p>My school had things like this. Ask the advisors while you are shopping for college(s).<p>&gt;&gt; What would you do in my situation?<p>Here are the questions I would need to answer yes to before proceeding:<p>--Can you afford to go to school for a few years without working?<p>--Can you handle the pressure of college while remaining reasonably well adjusted and mentally healthy?
(Was it ok the first time? Can you handle people younger than you being ahead in their work? Triage of  deadlines, bad grades, scolding instructors and childish policies without freaking out?)<p>--Do you have enough slack to finish behind schedule?
--Will you be satisfied with the result of meeting the BS requirement even if interviewing afterwards is brutal, and you still feel like an impostor?<p>--Have you tried looking at&#x2F;applying for jobs that have the BS requirement, so you know really know what the next step will be, and what your in for?