I have been teaching PHP for over a decade at MCC. I feel that CIS is
focused on hands on work that is as practical as possible.

Is a college degree needed for every job? No, of course not. But for a lot
of people, the organized structure, along with tips and tricks from
somebody who works with this stuff can be very helpful.

And whether it is fair or not, sometimes you need the degree just to get
into the interview.



On Fri, Dec 23, 2022, 08:34 Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss <
plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:

> Hi Trent,
>
> I apologize up front.
>
> Question : What do you want to accomplish?
>
> I know my experience is anecdotal...  And I am anti-university to some
> degree.  Everything I have been doing for the past 20 plus years has
> been self taught. Surprisingly PHP is not used or taught at the
> University level for some reason.  And PHP is used in some form on
> almost 80% of the web.
>
> I learned to program at the JC.
>
> I have both an AAS and a Bachelors degree.  I did not start college
> until after four years in the military.  Almost everything I needed to
> learn in college was learned at the JC.  Going to the University was a
> waste of my time. I acquired debt and lost momentum.
>
> I went to the U because I thought they were going to teach me the secret
> sauce - was none.  I'm not sure why I had to take 8 units of humanities.
>   The only class of value was a 300 level economics class.
>
> Today we have this Inter-Web thing.  Almost everything is at our
> fingertips.  I do lots of searches everyday.  And we have these nice
> user groups like PLUG that can help as well. Last year when I wanted to
> create a home web server I joined the BIND, Postfix, and Dovecot list
> serves.
>
> When I started programming a BS or BA was expected.  Today spend some
> time in the basement doing earnest self study and in 6 months or less
> you can be setting in a cube someplace.
>
> If you know what you want to do find a couple hiring managers willing to
> spend 5 minutes a week to guide you into that niche.  Next thing you
> know you can be an intern then a full-time or part-time, if that is your
> thing, IT worker.
>
> My point going to college to get a degree is not the best approach in my
> mind. Employers are looking for skills not degrees.
>
> And for what it is worth I think it is great the the JCs are offing a
> bachelors degree.  I hope this will bring the universities back into
> alignment with reality.
>
> In 1978 the UofA was charging $275 a semester.
>
> Keith
>
>
>
>
> On 2022-12-23 00:11, trent shipley via PLUG-discuss wrote:
> > Does anyone have any news about the Programming and Analytics 4 year
> > program they are going to start in Fall 2023 at Mesa CC?   Will it be
> > a CS or CIS program, or neither? I got a call and was told it's got
> > preliminary accreditation, but the MCCCD board doesn't even know if
> > the fees will be different from the standard 2-year degree tuition
> > rates. I expect them to be significantly lower than the state
> > university tuition rates, as that's rather a major point of the whole
> > four-year community college initiative.
> >
> > Trent
> > ---------------------------------------------------
> > PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>