The plan! A PhD in Computer Science
A roadmap for the future.
This journey is going to be a long one. I can divide it into three parts: Pivoting into Computer Science (i.e. get the necessary broad requirement coursework to succeed in a graduate degree as well as the necessary references). Then get a Masters degree to specialize in an area (which seems most likely to be in AI x HCI) and then apply that to scholarly research in educational technologies at a PhD level.
The rules still apply:
Must be part-time and remote.
Should be from reputable institutions.
Fully funded through scholarships or side hustles. No debt!
Achieve a reasonable work-study-life balance (if that’s even possible).
Document the skills and lessons I learn along the way.
Since I won’t be applying for a Masters or PhD programs anytime soon, I’ll differ talking about them till then.
Step #1: Pivoting into Computer Science
Since I already have a degree in electrical engineering, have been programming on and off for sometime and went through two bootcamps in web development from Bloomtech and data science from Coding Dojo so have a good grasp of multiple programming languages.
I only needed to get up to speed with C.S. courses. So ideally, a specialized fully online program preferably from a US institution that can issue credentials easily transferable to a graduate degree. I found two which have been around for sometime. The first from Colorado Boulder and the other from Oregon State. Since I was familiar with Colorado Boulder and their undergraduate degree program in computer science was ranked in the top 30 to 40 in the U.S, this looked like a good first step.
I applied to the University of Colorado Boulder’s Postbaccalaureate BS in Applied Computer Science which is identical to their on-campus program but fully remote and takes into account previous undergraduate study and I got-in in June 2023 after sitting the ALEKS placement exam (high school level math exam) and the TOEFL (English language proficiency test) online and from home.
Yay! I was in. Now the hard part. Putting a plan in place. I searched reddit to get an overview of the program and what to expect. I found a very good post about this from a graduate who recently completed the program. It was enlightening especially understanding the time requirements of the program (or in other words, what I can handle and afford). Officially, the school has the following list which I found helpful to compare courses against each other but not in absolute number of hours spent on a course which varies considerably from student to student.
Financially, this is not cheap too. I have to take 45 credits to graduate. Being an international student would cost me more at about $906 per credit and so $40,770 in total. After processing fees and the cost of textbooks, we’re up to $46,000.
I’m not in a hurry to complete the program and am targeting mastery of the material instead of just competency. Therefore, one heavy load course or two medium load courses maximum per term was a good trade-off between work-load and expenses.
So, I set up a plan to complete the program in 3.5 years. I’m in my third course now (CSPB 2270) and managed to get a A on both CSPB 1300 and CSPB 2824.
Expenses are distributed on the total length of the program and so I’m expected to pay around about $12,000 every year on average.
Based on all that, I need to dedicate about 10 hours weekly to study and come up with an extra $12,000 yearly to pay for tuition. So first two rules are done. Now I need to cough up the money to fund this endeavor and learn a few things on the way.