Best Educational Options
I would like to find options for a more solid education or grounding in programming or web development in particular.
I would like to know what are often considered the best options for strictly trade school/technical type programs and actual college programs. Are there good online courses? For full undergraduate degrees, is computer science a good choice or are there better majors for focusing on web development? If computer science, what are considered to be the best places for bachelors in CS?
I realize I can and should do a lot of learning simply by checking out others' work and just looking stuff up, which I have; but it's too slow of a process, and I feel like there are holes in my methodology that I want to have more specific guidance regarding "standard" practices, like OOP, or the organizational methods behind planning out projects, or getting security best practices down, etc.
I have checked out some of the videos available on this site. Haven't gone through all of those that I want to. But a problem with many tutorials is that I feel I'm beyond the basics or generalities that they usually cover; and what I need is to figure out what I don't know and to learn through a more thorough and complete approach.
I would like to know what are often considered the best options for strictly trade school/technical type programs and actual college programs. Are there good online courses? For full undergraduate degrees, is computer science a good choice or are there better majors for focusing on web development? If computer science, what are considered to be the best places for bachelors in CS?
I realize I can and should do a lot of learning simply by checking out others' work and just looking stuff up, which I have; but it's too slow of a process, and I feel like there are holes in my methodology that I want to have more specific guidance regarding "standard" practices, like OOP, or the organizational methods behind planning out projects, or getting security best practices down, etc.
I have checked out some of the videos available on this site. Haven't gone through all of those that I want to. But a problem with many tutorials is that I feel I'm beyond the basics or generalities that they usually cover; and what I need is to figure out what I don't know and to learn through a more thorough and complete approach.
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ASKER
Sounds like Computer Science is the way, beyond merely learning on my own.
I guess my problem with the notion of building a standards-compliant website from memory beyond the mere <!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset="utf-8"><title></t
Where I work now is not very demanding in their requirements, and certainly never okay with moving forward or doing very innovative things. So I don't know where my skills stand, really. Maybe just applying for jobs and swimming or sinking is the only real way to find that out. I just don't feel like, reading through job requirements, that I could say I meet them in anything more than a glancing fashion. ("Yeah, I worked with that once. Give me the job.").
I guess my problem with the notion of building a standards-compliant website from memory beyond the mere <!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset="utf-8"><title></t
Where I work now is not very demanding in their requirements, and certainly never okay with moving forward or doing very innovative things. So I don't know where my skills stand, really. Maybe just applying for jobs and swimming or sinking is the only real way to find that out. I just don't feel like, reading through job requirements, that I could say I meet them in anything more than a glancing fashion. ("Yeah, I worked with that once. Give me the job.").
Not knowing where you are in your professional career...
Is this for your own education or do you need the degree for your resume? If you already have an undergrad degree it would be best to focus on certifications. There are many books for specific ones you could read and learn and then take the test.
For general computer knowledge, if you don't need the piece of paper to put on your resume, Massive Open Online Course's (MOOC's) are a great option for the computer field: https://www.udacity.com/course/cs101
They are free, taught by real professors, and have real assignments. And there are tons of them all at different levels.
So bottom line, my answer would be what you should do depends on what you are trying to get out of it. Knowledge is great, but at the end of the day it should line up with what you want to do with your career. Pick some jobs out and look to see what the qualifications are. Do you need a Computer Science degree? Do you need a particular certification? If you need 5-10 years experience in programming to get the job you want, find a job that you can get that experience at and see what it requires to get. Then plan on working towards the other qualifications needed for your future job.
Is this for your own education or do you need the degree for your resume? If you already have an undergrad degree it would be best to focus on certifications. There are many books for specific ones you could read and learn and then take the test.
For general computer knowledge, if you don't need the piece of paper to put on your resume, Massive Open Online Course's (MOOC's) are a great option for the computer field: https://www.udacity.com/course/cs101
They are free, taught by real professors, and have real assignments. And there are tons of them all at different levels.
So bottom line, my answer would be what you should do depends on what you are trying to get out of it. Knowledge is great, but at the end of the day it should line up with what you want to do with your career. Pick some jobs out and look to see what the qualifications are. Do you need a Computer Science degree? Do you need a particular certification? If you need 5-10 years experience in programming to get the job you want, find a job that you can get that experience at and see what it requires to get. Then plan on working towards the other qualifications needed for your future job.
ASKER
I don't have an undergrad currently. I do have 3-5 years in web design/development, but rather sporadic. Most of the actual programming or development in the last 3 years.
So, I'm looking to add the degree to a resume, and I do see a number of jobs that I've been monitoring desire or require a degree, and usually in a related field (i.e. Computer Science). At this point, I'm feeling out whether the degree is worth getting; or whether, in the end, it's better to pursue full-bore simply getting the knowledge of programming directly through experience.
So, I'm looking to add the degree to a resume, and I do see a number of jobs that I've been monitoring desire or require a degree, and usually in a related field (i.e. Computer Science). At this point, I'm feeling out whether the degree is worth getting; or whether, in the end, it's better to pursue full-bore simply getting the knowledge of programming directly through experience.
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Computer science is a good option to get a university degree.
Later on you can enhance ur technical skills by doing certifications.
If you are in MS technologies you can do MCPD and similar certifications are for other technologies also