Hi, if anyone did, WGU for bachelors, I have a bunch of questions I would love to be answered
• Did you feel the program was worthwhile overall?
• Was it challenging, easy, or somewhere in between?
• Did you feel like you learned a lot, and was the material taught well?
• How were the instructors and course mentors?
• What was the coursework like in terms of difficulty and workload?
• Did you have any prior background in cybersecurity or computers before starting the program?
• Do you think it’s a good fit for someone starting fresh with no experience in the field?
• How long did it take you to complete the program?
• Did WGU help you with job placement or finding a job after graduation?
• Do they offer job advisors, career services, or help with internships either during or after the program?
9 Replies
As someone looking to get my Masters at WGU, I'm interested to hear @hex-encoded cheese 's response
The value proposition I saw out of WGU was pretty cool. Lets you speed through stuff you already know and if there's something you don't know, you get a handful of resources to go learn on your own. It's self paced so it'll be as challenging as you're willing to challenge yourself.
For me it's less about how much experience you have going into it and how much motivation + self-driven effort you're willing to put in.
I made it ab 75% of the way through then realized I got hella other more important things to do that can make bigger impacts on my career and professional development. But everyone will vary on their path, so you gotta do what's best for you, both professionally and physically/mentally.
At the end of the day getting a job is about what you can bring to the company for their investment in you. Doesn't matter how many degrees/certs you got if you can't turn that into business impact. WGU is well positioned to get you past the HR requirements barrier, and it'll be up to you to show your abilities once you get past that.
tldr: I recommend it, but don't bet on solely the degree/certs to land a job
* Overall, I think it was worth it. I got the piece of paper needed to have the job that I have now. I have a good set of certs.
* The most challenging part was forcing myself to do it. The courses themselves were not bad at all, however I had already been working in the field when I started it.
* I can't say I learned a ton because of my specific case but the material was accessible. It's very different from what you'd expect from a normal college because you're ultimately "teaching yourself".
* The difficulty and workload was not bad but I struggled with bouts of inability to do anything. It was purely a me problem. The course work itself was arguably easy.
* I already had a lot of pre-req knowledge. That's one of the biggest problems with this degree. They let anyone in, people think they can jump right into cyber with no technical background, and then are shocked when they can't get a job.
* If you have no technical background or work history, I don't think the degree would hurt if you aimed for a general IT role. If you're trying to go direct into cyber from zero, it's incredibly unlikely unless you're just built different. Think of it this way. How could I hire you to attack or defend my systems if you have no experience with them?
* It took me about three years because I was having trouble pushing through some of the non-technical gen eds. Motivation n shit. Purely personal. The Masters was done in one term.
* I can't speak to this, as I was already employed and working in the field.
* They do have some stuff with Handshake but again, I can't speak too much to it. The cyber club is pretty neat and is full of good people.
Another thing to note, the cyber industry really sucks right now for getting a job. I'm having trouble and many would say I'm highly qualified. The only leads I've had are from networking.
All in all, it's a great program with good certs, especially if you can push yourself to do it. My biggest cautionary thing is expecting it to be the thing that gets you a job in the field.
lmao @hex-encoded cheese glad we got similar takes
I feel like people also wind up in this weird position where they've got a couple of mid-tier certs with no experience and it looks kinda odd
real
weal, even
chatgpt discussion :ExuGone:
* Absolutely, while I haven't personally done the bachelors through WGU, the "bang for your buck" for their masters program absolutely makes it worth it. I know their B.S. program for cyber is 100% solid as well.
* A lot say it's challenging, and some say it's not. Personally I've felt their program is an appropriate level of "I need to study this a bit more" and "I know this so I'm good". I've seen people complete their degrees very fast, but they typically have some sort of experience in the IT field, educational or professional.
* I have a great relationship with my program mentor, he's been a great mentor and just someone nice to chat with about tech stuff every other week.
* Bachelors is going to have a lot more classes than the masters, but I've been able to "accelerate", meaning take more classes than would be required to remain in good standing, every single term so far. That's going to be up to you, but 12 CUs is considered full time, you'll just have to make sure you're up for that requirement if you want to go in a full-time enrollment capacity.
* I have many years working with computers, servers, networking, etc. Very little of it is in a professional capacity (i.e. employed by a company for a specific role, a lot of mine is secondary to another job I already held or freelance stuff), but experience prior will help but it won't be required for undergrad. It may just mean you'll have to dedicate more time to studying where you need to.
* The bachelors program I can see being a good fit to a degree with "new/green" learners, however it'll probably end up being a little more difficult because the BSCSIA program is a specific degree, it's not a generalized degree program like "IT" would be.
* Can't speak to bachelors degree timeline unfortunately, but the speed of completion is honestly up to you (you can add more courses per term if you complete the others quicker than expected). I finish the masters program next month (or sooner if I stop procrastinating and finish this dang paper), so it's taken right at a year and a half for me but I intentionally drug it out for personal reasons.
* Can't speak to it personally, but they provide a solid number of job-hunting resources to all students, both specific to certain fields and in general.
* Pretty much the same answer as above, between the job listing platform, career services, events with employers, etc. they provide a lot to help you find professional work during/after your degree.
I have not graduated yet but I only have Python and Pentest left so you know where I am coming from.
Did you feel the program was worthwhile overall? I think if you are looking to get started in the field then its probably OK.
• Was it challenging, easy, or somewhere in between? Fot me with zero experience I would say in between.
• Did you feel like you learned a lot, and was the material taught well? I feel like I learn what is needed to pass the exam and get the cert.
• How were the instructors and course mentors? Some were helpful, some I never even contacted.
• What was the coursework like in terms of difficulty and workload? Since it is self paced it is kind of on you. Difficulty was not an issue but you might need to focus on a few things that are not clear in the material but agin at the end of the day you are passing the cert.
• Did you have any prior background in cybersecurity or computers before starting the program? Not really
• Do you think it’s a good fit for someone starting fresh with no experience in the field? I do
• How long did it take you to complete the program? I am right at 18 months. Some classes were a weekend, others a month.
• Did WGU help you with job placement or finding a job after graduation? Dont know yet
• Do they offer job advisors, career services, or help with internships either during or after the program? Dont know yet.
The good thing is that this can ve a very economical option and if you are in a hurry it can also be a good option. I found myself rushing through the classes and sometimes my depth of knowlege suffered a bit. Again its what you make of it but I always felt like I needed to hurry up so I did not need to pay extra (which I will end up doing anyhow).