Free/cheap Computer Science degree online? | Hacker News Reader

Free/cheap Computer Science degree online?

17 pointsfrabia8 comments

I'm looking to start studying computer science and since I'm already working full time, I would like to do it online in my free time. I was looking at some bachelor's degree online but they are often pretty expensive and unaccessible. On the other hand, there are a lot of free resources online, but that often cover a single topic, without providing an understanding of the holistic learning path and which matters/topics to study.

I don't care to actually enrol in a bachelor in order to obtain a degree certificate, but I need a course that gives me a comprehensive syllabus of the topics I should learn and eventually where to find them (if not included in the course).

Any idea/suggestion? Thanks!

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> I don't care to actually enrol in a bachelor in order to obtain a degree certificate, but I need a course that gives me a comprehensive syllabus of the topics I should learn and eventually where to find them (if not included in the course).

So you aren't looking for an online degree, you're looking for university-level learning resources? Many universities have their curricula online, that's how you find out what to cover. And some of them have full lectures and textbook lists which are your learning materials. For example:

Stanford CS Curriculum: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zfw8nPvJeewxcFUBpKUK...

MIT Computer Science: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/find-by-topic/#cat=engineering&s...

There are also some good curated lists online like https://teachyourselfcs.com/.

Why computer science? You can learn alot of it on the job. And the job is probably going to be programming, which is a far jump from Computer Science.

I would recommend a channel 9 series called "C# for absolute beginners". It's free, and really helps you get to the level of programming something. Then I would try to build websites using Spring and Node, or ASP.net and Node. Once you have some proof of concepts, you can try looking for an entry level job and learn on the job. Just try to make sure you question why you're doing something and if there's a better way when you code. Like Modulo, or a switch statement being the common hang ups.

Be careful with C++, Python or other languages. You're going to want to solely learn Javascript and C# or Java. Those are where the entry level no degree jobs are. And where alot of enterprise tech is. It's not fancy, but it's good to get your foot in the door.

"You can learn alot of it on the job."

Not OP, but many places will trash your resume if it doesn't have a degree (unless you are super well known as a high performer).

MIT open course ware has all of their courses online for free.

https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

I personally used the free book "Think Python: how to think like a computer scientist" to learn to code, before going into an engineering degree.

Greenteapress.com

Good luck!

>there are a lot of free resources online, but that often cover a single topic, without providing an understanding of the holistic learning path and which matters/topics to study

Hit the nail right on the head. I feel like there’s so many services which are wildly successful in the online learning space. But they seem to all miss this. Sometimes people don’t know what path they need to take/where they should be exploring. This IMO is the largest benefit of traditional schools for the majority of people… some people need a path, or simply don’t have the time to seek their own path and traditional school can give you all the foundations you need to know how to find or build a path.

As far as cheap goes, if you want an actual degree, I would look into WGU.

It's not a great program, but it is as cheap or cheaper than a community college if you put the work in and you get a lot of industry certifications along the way.

Some very knowledgeable and dedicated people have gone from no / little college credit to a full Bachelors or even in one case a Masters degree in a single semester.

Their process is 1 course at a time, you can test out based on competency or previously attained college credits or certifications, and you can go through the courses as quickly as you feel competent in the subject.

For a affordable/cheap degree, there is University of the People: https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/cs/degrees/computer-scienc...

For general background for the autodidact there is: https://teachyourselfcs.com/

Maybe something like this will provide you with insight: https://github.com/ossu/computer-science#curriculum

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