My background

I dropped out of Auburn University in 2005 having completed 3 years of Electrical Engineering. The decision was dumb, but I didn't realize it at the time as I was making more money than I ever had as a project manager for an electrical contractor. But over time my career goals changed. I'm not sure if I lost my passion for construction or it was eclipsed by my newfound passion for web development. But either way, I eventually decided it was time to go back to school and get my bachelor's degree.

I was living in Whitefish, Montana and there was a really good community college there, so I started off by getting an Associate's in Computer Science and another in Web Development. FVCC had great instructors, small classes, and it was fun.

By the time I enrolled in WGU, I had tons of credits, from Engineering Physics II to Discrete Math, Data Structures and Algorithms, and all the 'gen ed.' So on the one hand, I was ahead of the game, but on the other, I was experienced enough to judge WGU against the engineering department at a respected state university.

WGU Course Schedule (and certs!)

Going into WGU, I was impressed by the course schedule. Many of the courses looked both exciting and essential to software development:

• Software Engineering
• Operating Systems for Programmers
• Data Management for Programmers
• Client-Server Application Development
• Mobile App Development

Many of the course credits were earned in the form of passing industry certifications:

• CompTIA A+
• CompTIA Network+
• CompTIA Security+
• Oracle Certified Associate (Java SE8)
• Oracle Certified Professional (Java SE8)
• CIW Site Development Associate
• CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS Specialist

WGU Quality of Education

So I knew this degree would deliver on exposing me to a wide range of knowledge and qualifying me to pursue jobs that require a degree in 'Computer Science or equivalent.'

My expectations were low due to online schools having a reputation for lower standards, passing unqualified students, and other scandals. I expected to coast through quietly and earn the degree, but perhaps not learn much. Boy, was I wrong!

I learned just how tough it is to study for, test, and pass industry certifications. Many of these certifications required proof of several years of experience to sit for (unless you were enrolled in an institution like WGU). These exams required hours, weeks and months of preperation and memorization. But if you passed the exam, you passed the course.

The courses that didn't require passing a cert, were in many ways harder. I read 600 pages of Operating System Concepts Essentials 2nd Edition written by a Yale professor for his course. I also read and was tested on a 40 chapter database book: history, theory, application, emerging technologies, query languages, and advanced concepts. It was daunting.

WGU Projects

Besides the exhaustive required reading and certification exams, many of the assignments were projects. Projects were cool because they gave you a chance to roll up your sleeves and get into the code.

All of my projects required Java SE8. Some were standard applications and others were mobile apps. The assignments were designed to force you to use object-oriented principles such as inheritance, encapsulation, and polymorphism. They also required using certain advanced features of the language such as interfaces, lamba expressions, the Stream API, the Date/Time API, and JavaFX for UI.

Here's an inventory app I delivered.

And an Android App I delivered using Android Studio.

Conclusion

WGU was not easy.

I learned a lot.

I coded a lot.

I wasn't able to coast, and I got a lot of value for the money I spent. I also gained a lot of experience and confidence. The best part is that I learned how to learn: read the docs, build a project, get certified, etc. I would recommend the program for anyone seeking an education and degree in Software Development.