Compared to that last post, I am feeling better overall, less overwhelm. After 6 long months I have finally finished my degree. It is a a Masters of Science, Software Engineering - Domain Driven Design
Masters of Science, Software Engineering - Domain Driven Design
How I did it in 6 months
I completed my masters degree in 6 months while still working a full time job (40 hours a week). Naturally the first question you are probably thinking is "in 6 months?" A master's degree from a traditional university takes about 2 years on the faster side, but 3-4 years is common. The biggest limiting factor in this case being that you can only take 2-3 masters level classes in one semester. What if you could take more than just 3 classes per semester to finish it quicker?
The problem with traditional university and how WGU fixed it
The problem
Traditional universities somewhat arbitrarily limit how many classes you can take in a single term. It is somewhat justified that if you take too many a student wouldn't be able to handle the workload. There is truth there, but the problem lies with how classes work with traditional universities. Classes are happening at the same, and that is the main reason for limiting it to just a few a semester.
How WGU fixed it
I completed my degree through Western Governor's University (WGU). WGU is an online school with a competency based model. It is all online and there is not mandatory class times or homework. The only think you have to take is the final assessment (or assessments for some classes). You are given the material and are allowed to go wild with when or how you study. Another benefit of WGU since it is all on your own time, a student can focus on just one class at at time which increases how fast that class can be done since there isn't 3 other classes you have to study for at the same time.
When you finish all your classes for a term, you can pull up future classes into your current term, this is known as accelerating. This is how I was able to finish 2 years worth of work in 6 months. I accelerated future term classes into my current term and i was able to finish in one term (6 months). A term is WGU's equivalent of a semester.
Is it legit?
Of course another question someone immediately thinks about is "is the degree legit?" The answer is Yes. It is a regionally accredited (this is the accreditation that matters) university. The accreditation body is the same that accredits other universities such as University of Idaho, and Boise State University.
It's legit
So it's just easy then?
Another question people will ask me who aren't familiar with WGU is "it was very easy then?"
No it wasn't easy
Even though I completed the degree working a full time job, it was anything far from easy, it still took me 6 months after all. I work 8am - 5pm. After work, at around 6:00pm is when I would start working on my degree. I would work on it anywhere between 3-6 hours every day depending on how tired i was on any given day. On average I would work on it 4 hours during week days. That equates to 20 hours per week, but what about weekends. I would put in 8+ on each weekend day working on my degree. This means that on a good week I was putting in 36 hours into finishing my degree, almost the same amount of time as my full time job.
There are full time university students that don't even put in 10 hours week for their degree. I was putting in 36 hours a week.
What's next?
Now that I have my degree I can finally focus on my business. I spent some time reflecting why I chose to go for my masters. There are many reasons why:
- To fill my ego
- To learn more about software engineering
- improve my job prospecting
- It was easier than making my business work.
That last item is one I didn't expect. I decided to do a masters because my business had not been ludicrously successful after 2 years (I had naïve expectations). For me, academia is easier than the brutal world of business. I did my masters as a way to add an accomplishment to substitute the fact that my business was not that accomplishment.
Now that I have completed my degree it's time for me to tackle the harder boss, creating a successful business. If I dedicated 36 hours to making my business work every week, it would be unreasonable that it didn't work after 2 years.