<p>I know I am creating a lot of posts on this site, but I just HAVE to tell my experiences since I have been in software development for 13+ years. I am going to rattle off some things education-wise as it applies to the way we get so uptight about our decisions in academia. I don't promote any companies. I am not here to bash schools or promote them...just telling it like it is</p>
<p>1) Neither of my BS/MS degrees are in Computer Science. My BS is in Math with CS courses in Databases, Networking, Operating Systems & Programming Languages. That is it!</p>
<p>2) I actually wanted to be a mathematician but every employer that visited Michigan State University looking for math majors sent their "Software Development" hiring manager.</p>
<p>3) My first job out of undergrad, I was enrolled in a "Ingres Database & SQL" 1-week course and put on a project using Ingres.</p>
<p>4) My 2nd employer threw me into Sybase BASED ONLY OFF my prior experience in Ingres. In the business world, SQL is SQL. One project I did was converting a Oracle application to a Sybase application.</p>
<p>5) Same employer won another federal contract...this time Oracle was the database of choice. I always tell people this story. The new project director asked me "I heard you have done Oracle before". I said "yes, a little". He then turned around and told some folks "Ok, bring it in here". It was the whole Oracle software box AND Unix guides. He then said "You will be our DBA".</p>
<p>6) Later on, I got with an employer who sent us to PowerBuilder class...and this was when PowerBuilder was hot. I milked that knowledge for 5 years.</p>
<p>7) Got back into Oracle...but this time when the kinda new area of data warehousing (which I am still in).</p>
<p>HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART WHEN IT COMES TO ACADEMICS!!!</p>
<p>8) In the Washington DC area, many employers will pay you based on experience but will give you extra for a graduate degree. Many government contracts do not specify what your BS/MS should be in...just as long as you have one. They are not going to inquire, did he/she take compiler design, flip-flop circuits. Why?....they don't ask for transcripts, they just call the registrar to verify the degree....and that usually be some non-techie in human resources.</p>
<p>9) Once I knew that, I set out to find the almost easiest engineering graduate degree I could find. I wanted 30 credits, no thesis and mostly online.
I chose University of Wisconsin-Platteville which allows 15 credits to be transferred. This was my exact curriculum:</p>
<ul>
<li>Graduate Linear Algebra (I was a math major undergrad so...no sweat)</li>
<li>Probability & Statistics (same as undegrad...only the course number was 500)</li>
<li>Experimental Design (not hard at all)</li>
<li>Statistical Quality Control (not hard...look up charts in back of book)</li>
<li>Software Quality Assurance</li>
<li>Project Management 1</li>
<li>Project Management 2</li>
<li>Systems Engineering</li>
<li>Data Warehousing course</li>
<li>Quality Management course</li>
</ul>
<p>The Stats, Exp Design, & Soft. Quality Assurance courses were transferred from Cal-State Dominguez Hills. The data warehouse course was from Dakota State Univ and the Linear Algebra course was online from U of Alabama. By the way, I didn't take a GRE. I aced the first 12 credits and was given full admission.</p>
<p>10) What I put my stock in were the Computer/I.T. training from the real sponsors who will teach it better than ANY university:</p>
<ul>
<li>Oracle DBA training - Oracle Corp</li>
<li>Data Warehouse training - The Data Warehouse Institute</li>
<li>Obtained a Project Management Professional certification (PMP)</li>
</ul>
<p>My point - Don't get all caught up in academic courses, grad schools and whatnot. I did but also saw what REALLY counted in the I.T. corporate world. Also, once you have the experience and certifications...you can be an independent consultant basically cutting out the middle man and can get $100/more per hour. That's in line with MANY bankers.</p>