I’m looking to switch into a tech job in the future, and I’m wondering if web development could be a good choice. Ideally, I’d like an interesting job with a good work-life balance, and I would even be willing to take a pay cut later in my career in order to have more free time. I’m hoping to get some insight into the profession. I have three questions:

  1. Is it hard to find a position in web development with good work-life balance

  2. I’m considering getting a bachelors in computer science from WGU. Is it worth it or is the self taught route better?

  3. Does anyone have any experience in the program?

  • tinker_james@programming.dev
    4·
    1 year ago

    What is your current career? I was an Electrical Engineer until 2017 and was also considering a CS degree. I opted for a Web Dev boot camp instead as a lower timeframe/cost test of my ability to pivot.

    I was able to land a job 8ish months after graduating and am now a Sr. Software Engineer. I think my previous engineering experience did help me get my foot in the door but one of my bootcamp grad buddies also broke into a web dev job without any bachelor’s degree.

    The CS guys here may scoff at me but the boot camp route made sense for me and it may for you as well.

    It’s definitely not a shoo-in. You have to like to code and have a passion for it. I liked it in high-school so it wasn’t liked I just pulled the “lets try a coding career” out of thin air.

    • RuleNumber6@programming.devOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      I currently work as a server. So, if I went the bootcamp/self-taught route, I’d be applying without a degree and from a completely unrelated field. With that in mind, I’m estimating that it would take me about 2yrs, maybe less, to get my degree and cost $ 7,600. I know boot camps are usually faster than that, but they aren’t too much cheaper. So, I’m wondering if, in my situation, the benefit of a degree would out way the ~ extra year and the time after spent learning job specific skills.

      • tinker_james@programming.dev
        1·
        1 year ago

        Ha my buddy I talked about was also a server!

        2 years to get a computer science bachelors?

        Bootcamps are definitely a gamble. They vary in quality too. But, I guess I’m just here to say that it worked in my case! So it’s a valid option if the other factors make sense.

        Do you know at this point if you like to code?

        • RuleNumber6@programming.devOP
          1·
          1 year ago

          Ya, with WGU I would be able to transfer some of the college credit I already have. So, for the most part, I wouldn’t have to take any general ed courses, and I can take a good portion of the other classes via study.com then transfer them. After that, I would have about 11 classes I’d actually have to take through WGU. There’s a good youtube video I could link regarding it if anyone is interested in the specifics.

          As far as liking to code, I have very minimal experience (hello world, if statement, etc) in python from a while back. So, I don’t really know if that would translate into enjoying coding in a professional environment, but I do have a general interest in technology/computer science. Do have any recommendations for how I could get a better feel for whether I would enjoy it or not?

          Thanks for the response by the way!

          • tinker_james@programming.dev
            2·
            1 year ago

            Honestly, that’s kinda how it happened for me. When I remembered I liked coding I started tinkering with Python for a couple of weeks. I enjoyed it enough that I started to wonder if I could do it as a job instead of Electrical engineering. That’s what lead me to look at education options.

            If you’re looking into web dev specifically… you could try writing some very basic websites for a week or two with HTML, CSS and maybe some Javascript. If you find your curiosity and your excitement when you get something to work outweighs the frustration of hitting learning roadblocks…then it’s probably safe to say you’ll like it and will thrive!

            If you completely lose momentum and have no desire to try again or keep learning…then switching to it as a career will probably be a painful grind.

            And to be perfectly honest, I didn’t even really know what web development was when I joined the boot camp…I just knew I liked tinkering with the Python stuff that I did.