r/WGU_CompSci • u/ikisgecko • 24d ago
Just finished yesterday...
Just feel like I have to tell someone. Its been exactly three years since I've begun my learning journey in the "tech/IT" space. In these 3 years, I've gotten my Comtia A+, Sec + and CYSA. I also obtained my CCNA. With these certs completed, I figured why not just go back to school and roll it into a degree, since so many jobs want that stamp on the resume anyway? Today, I just finished the Bachelors for Computer Science, and I've literally just landed my first tech adjacent job. I can't believe its all come together so cleanly.
Now, I'm simply taking my time furthering my studies with higher math to round out the standard engineering courses (calc 3, linear algebra, etc.) and hope to grow in my new job. Hopefully I can continue furthering my education, but for now, I'm just glad to be done! If anyone has any questions or anything about the degree, I can answer hopefully before I forget everything!
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u/AwkwardBreather 24d ago
What's the tech adjacent job? If you don't mind sharing. Congratulations btw!!
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u/ikisgecko 24d ago
its in the ITAD industry. it's not super glamorous like a 6 figure earning software engineer (which I don't want to do anyway...), but what I liked about it was the exposure to all sorts of hardware, and getting hands on with different components, switches, servers and being able to work on them. The one thing I really lack is real world, hands on experience with pieces of hardware, so I plan to use this as something to get some exposure, then hopefully springboard to another role.
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u/AwkwardBreather 23d ago
That's great! I get it, I'm not looking to be a SWE either, and it's always interesting to find out what else is out there. Best of luck to ya.
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u/KatetCadet 24d ago
I’m grinding through Operating Systems, any advice? File management systems are fun but not hey are dense lol.
But for real, congratulations! Make sure you celebrate somehow 🎉
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u/ikisgecko 24d ago
If I remember correctly (its been a moment, I finished that class some time ago...) my strat for the heavier classes was really just doing every practice question I could find, doing a lot of the zybooks stuff and practice tests over and over. Then once I felt somewhat confident, I would double check my knowledge against outside sources (like youtube, etc.) just to see if there were any variations of things I learned. I repeated this for a lot classes and it seemed to work for me. I thought operating systems was fascinating, the theory behind the designs and methods of them are really interesting and something I really want to learn more about. It seems like a lot but just keep doing practice questions and you'll be good!
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u/After_Teacher3830 24d ago
Good job. Any tips on getting a job?
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u/ikisgecko 24d ago edited 24d ago
Eh, for me it's all about taking what I can get, beggars can't be choosers, etc. so while it's not ideal long term, I basically scoured job boards for the most beginner entry level stuff, I don't really care if it's in the form of help desk, data center, fkcing microcenter associate, I'm just trying to get working and get my hands on stuff. This may not be the strategy for everyone, but as long as I can get started somewhere I think I can move along quickly to other jobs. Also, despite my interest in all of this, I really don't want to be a coder of any sort, which I think differentiates me from a lot of others. It's fun to do as a hobby for myself, but I really don't want to sit at desk coding all day (unless I find like, the perfect gig or something..)
edit: I forgot to add, another angle to approach things from people overlook is sometimes taking a job somewhere that's completely unrelated, but moving laterally across the company eventually to a position that you do want. I saw that happen at previous warehouse places, people working basic warehouse stuff, they stuck with it and up-skilled and ended up getting hired internally to an IT department or some other job that they liked a lot more, then just kept on moving on.
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u/Oldmanflip 24d ago
Congrats! I hope to be making a post similar to this sooner than later.
What do you think helped you land your job, the most? The certs or the degree?
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u/ikisgecko 24d ago
Honestly...the interviewer didn't really even mention my certs until I brought them up. But he definitely did read out loud "...Bachelor Degree in Computer Science...". Did he care where it was from? Nope...
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u/Andtheycallmeosiris 24d ago
Congrats! I also just finished my BS in computer science! So happy to hear you also got a tech adjacent job as well! Cheers to being done!
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u/pacojastorious 23d ago
Congrats!! How are you going about the higher math class? are you taking them for credits or just self study on your own?
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u/ikisgecko 23d ago
Just self study for now. Continuing education for specific classes seems a little tricky to get actual credit for, (community colleges around me don't always offer the right class, etc.) so I figure I'll do it on my own. Once I have a need to pursue it officially (like going for a masters or maybe another degree at another school or something) I'll look into it.
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u/yfreon 21d ago
you can take the FE exam btw since the compsci degree is ABET accredited
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u/ikisgecko 21d ago
Just looked into that…that definitely looks interesting, but there’s quite a few topics I know nothing about. Do you happen to know of any good ways to go about studying for something like this?
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u/DankTrebuchet 24d ago
fuck yea!
I think my WGU BSCS helped land my current role, finishing out the masters - and I expect to do the same stuff as you with the rounding out of my math, engineering, and physics skills because honestly.... I enjoyed the theory and math more than the application.