Greetings fellow Lemmings,
I know this is a community that has a strong backbone in the Software and Technology space. I am a returning student in my mid-30’s that is returning to college as a way to pursue a career change. I am looking to crowdsource opinions from experienced tech professionals so I can make good quality, informed decisions about how I move forward with my educational and career goals.
With that being said my question is how would you proceed between the programs I have linked below? I am starting at a STEM focused community college (Bellevue College) in the Pacific Northwest. My long term goal is to either transfer to another four year institution (like UW Bothell) grade permitting, or perhaps finish a four year degree from this institution. This is where your advice comes in, and where I believe I need better outside perspective to make a good decision.
Option #1 (Software Development - Application Development Track) This is where I have been leaning because it seems to afford me the largest number of future options with the direction I take my education. Most importantly I think it sets me up in the best position to make the potential transition to the University of Washington Bothell’s Computer Science & Software Engineering program. The Application Development track has a stronger focus on C# & .NET framework programming languages, which seems to provide a better foundation for more potential job opportunities at the moment.
Option #2 (Software Development - Artificial Intelligence Track) Artificial Intelligence is obviously the buzzword of the moment. However, I am wondering if I am robbing myself of options by over-specializing this early in the process, and I also have concerns about focusing my learning process so heavily on Python when that seems to be something that is not used as a standard backbone language for more enterprise level businesses. I also don’t have any interest in the robotics area of this degree, as I don’t see that as being something I would look to pursue in my career. I do want to be conscientious about learning whatever is going to provide me the most future utility, therefore, I am wondering if this is the way to go for that reason.
Ultimately, I am open to any and all advice, recommendations, and wisdom that my fellow Lemmings have to provide. My previous background was in a completely unrelated field, but I have always had a passion for technology and I am a quick learner with a lean lifestyle and no external distractions. Completing this process and securing employment will be my focus 100% for the next 3-4 years. With that in mind, tell me what you think.
- Where should I go with my education?
- What pitfalls should I avoid?
- When should I specialize?
- Am I crazy for doing this later in life?
Hit me with anything you’ve got Lemmy, it is all appreciated!
Edit: I’m watching the NFC Championship Game, but I will respond to all of you as soon as it is over. Really appreciate all the responses so far!
It sounds like you’re going to school with much more of a professional interest than an academic interest in software. In other words, you belong more in Software Engineering classes than Computer Science classes.
I got a BS in CS with an AI specialization about 10 years ago and the AI part resulted in absolutely nothing professionally, even though I applied to just as many AI jobs as non-AI. I don’t regret it though, because the classes interested me deeply on an academic level and going to college wasn’t solely about career prep for me.
Python … seems to be something that is not used as a standard backbone language for more enterprise level businesses
This is just flat out incorrect. Sure, very few enterprise programs are built entirely with Python, but many have components written in Python (especially in web), and Python is also a popular choice for build scripts and other internal software development tools. Python makes the process of going from idea to working program faster than any other language, which the bean counters like, so trust me, you will see Python everywhere in the industry.
One last thing, we are 110% approaching another AI winter because businessmen oversold each other on what language models are capable of and now they’re all getting super pessimistic about AI. So unless it’s something you’re passionate about, maybe look elsewhere…
I’d lean towards the Software Development track, partly because that’s my background, and partially because it sounds like it would offer a better foundation in development fundamentals. I suspect AI is going to change significantly over the next couple of decades, so I suspect it would be less future proof.
Am I crazy for doing this later in life?
No. The best time to plant a tree is fifty years ago, the second best time is now.
When you get into development shops, you should discover that you’re promoted based on merit (if not, run). If that’s the case, use your maturity, and you’ll hopefully be able to progress quickly.
By using your maturity, I mean: have empathy for the user, focus on the most important parts of your project first, and speak up when you encounter problems. When I was a fresh dev, I focused on what was technically feasible, did the easy parts first, and tried to fight through problems on my own.
I’m gonna go ahead and agree with the other comments.
I’m gonna ignore any future projections on where both fields are headed, but basically if you would apply for them rn, software development leaves the nature of your future job out in the open and basically opens you up with a huge number of opportunities.
The AI one sounds cool too, but as someone who works in a company focused on research in CS-related fields, I can tell you the skillset you are required to have in order to implement AIs in any way is vastly different from software development. You lean even more into math, things stay more theoretical and academic a lot of the time and AI also forces you to think more unconventional and counter-intuitively. Now this is not in itself a bad thing, but it does narrow you down to that very specific field and it does not sound like you wanna dig yourself down another rabbit hole of a profession.
Only do AI if you are really keen to do it and you are happy even if you might be stuck in that specific field later on.
TL;DR go software development. AI doesn’t sound like a fit for you from what I could gather.
P.s. you can always fuck with AIs in your free time if you want. That’s more fun anyway.
First of all, congrats on pursuing a career change, many are afraid to do so, that makes me believe that any path you choose you will find a way to make it work for you!
You don’t need a degree to pursue a computer science career, it’s common practise within the field to do so, and most companies/teams/interviewers don’t really care. I don’t want to imply that a degree or higher education has no value, on the contrary it can be a great opportunity to focus on the fundamentals and experiment with many different subjects. However, that depends on you, the field is ever changing and most colleges/universities aren’t doing a great job keeping up. That’s why, if you want to go that route, you need to not be afraid to lay off the path laid by the program and specialize on your interests.
I would suggest AI if you like data science, it’s a broad subject ranging from working numbers on excel day in day out, to producing complex mathematical formulas to explain how a model is able to predict something considered impossible for humans. Don’t be discouraged because it’s a buzzword, it’s true; everyone is doing it and most are selling snake oil or worse, but there are still some really interesting/fascinating real world applications.
Application development is a far broader subject, but the vast majority of it is pretty limited and standsrdized. It’s the domain of most developers out there and it can range from really interesting to soul crashing boredom. If you change jobs often enough and keep learning, it can be a really rewarding path, you can make decent money (100k-300k) and you will never lose interest. Each application you work on has a domain, and you will learn a tonne about it. For me, it has been fish farming, betting, and program analysis.
Keep in mind that choosing a track is not restricting for your career, you can make changes in little to no time. Sometimes you accept a new job that seems a little out of your area of comfort, or you start helping out a colleague and slowly switch to a new role, or you just read an article and decide you want to do that.
Last but not least, the specific technologies are not important, but the time you finish they will be obsolete anyway. However, the skills you will gain while learning them, will be highly transferable. Once you learn your 3rd language there is no language you can learn within a few days.
PS if you are in it for the money, just go do a JavaScript 6month bootcamp and get a six figure salary.
I’ve been a software developer for well almost two decades now. I started in tech support and worked my way up. I originally majored in music in university. I dropped out, took some tech classes, but decided college life was not for me. I worked in restaurants for years, and finally got back into IT starting as low-level tech support in the early 2000s. I finally got my bachelor’s degree (to get a visa to live here in Japan more than anything else), at age 34.
I would lean toward Option 1. Some of our AI and ML folks can do really neat things in Python, but have issues making it work with anything else in our system. There are also other languages that are getting more libraries and abilities to do what has long been in Python. If you go for option 2, I would supplement with other languages, database, UI, etc. for making a more well-rounded portfolio.
That said, my question is: what do you want to do? What do you want to make and build, or is it just about the money? This kinda informs the answers to what you should do.
Higher levels of IT often involve continuous education to stay competent and competitive. You will be left behind if you don’t at least keep up vaguely with new technologies, methodologies, etc. Some people enjoy that part, but it is something of a chore to me.
