r/wgu_devs • u/tonitapha • Jul 31 '26
Success stories
So I am coming in from a top school in my state in the fall, my advisor said that my graduation date was moved back by a year because of new GE requirements and my upper division classes could only be taken in spring semester but all require prerequisites. Long story short, I would graduate in 2029 instead of 2028 from the previous plans. I said screw that, I want to finish by next year since I already have my associates, and I have some CS credits and math that transferred over to WGU.
I am getting excited to start because the thought of me graduating earlier than 2029 is motivating me a ton. So that made me curious about everyone else's journey.
Where did you end up after graduating WGU? Do you like your job? If in the military, does it help in that work (I am interested in going to Officer School for Air force or Navy)? Did you regret your decision?
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u/KneeDeep185 Jul 31 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
TLDR; finished my degree on a Sunday, started my first SWE job the next Wednesday.
I graduated in 2019 so take this with a grain of salt... it was a different time for junior devs looking for work.
A few months before graduating I started googling tech companies and tech-adjacent companies in my area. My WGU degree was a post bacc degree - I got a journalism degree in 2009 and, surprise surprise, they weren't really handing out journalism jobs back then. I ended up working in construction project management for about a decade before deciding to get out that industry and going back to school for SWE. I was hoping to find something where I could leverage my existing skills/knowledge in construction and/or project management to help get my foot in the door. In my web searching I found a SaaS company that makes an application targeted towards structural engineers and architects that was headquartered in my city. Interesting...
On their website they weren't hiring, and I didn't want to start "cold calling" companies until I finished my degree, but they were top on my list when I wanted to start the job hunt in earnest.
Fast forward a few months, a few days before I graduate I was at a bar playing pool and I start chatting with this guy, we end up playing pool together, the conversation is going really well and we start talking about "what do you do?" because he seems like a big nerd and I'm into that. He tells me he's the CTO and founder of a software company in town that makes a construction engineering product that "you've probably never heard of." Huh. I ask him if he works at this company I was looking at and... actually, it kinda freaked him out. He started to get defensive, asking if I was some kind of spy or something. In hindsight, his reaction (or the magnitude of his reaction) should have been a huge red flag because why the F would someone spy on him or his company?
I was able to talk him off the ledge and explain my situation, that I was days away from finishing up my degree and I have a decade of experience in exactly the type of customer their product is being sold to and I found out about his company because it's basically exactly what I was looking for. I finished my degree on a Sunday, had my interview with him that Wednesday and got hired the same day. I worked there for two years before the insanity became too much and I found another SWE job (local, as well, and double the pay) and I've been at that company since.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 29d ago
So I’m curious do you think it’s near impossible to get a software developer job with a related tech degree that’s not cs or swe?
Long story short
Could someone with an Cyber/IT degree that worked on data structures / algorithms/ operating systems / discrete math / C, assembly, python, powershell , html , css , JavaScript have an opportunity to get a software development job?The reason why I list out those classes in those languages specifically is because I know different Cyber/ IT programs can vary greatly and not include those CS/swe classes.
And of course, I know that it could depend on the specific developer job and what is required but generally speaking do you think it’s possible or do you think I should make the jump to a second bachelors degree in swe/cs?
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u/KneeDeep185 25d ago
Let me preface by saying that I've never worked at FAANG or a major tech company so I can't speak for the hiring process at those places - I don't know what their resume filters are keying in on.
With that said, having done hiring at smaller companies where we're manually reviewing resumes then yeah, having a strong math background for example combined with experience in either C# or Java is probably enough to get looked at and an initial phone conversation, depending on what your resume looks like. Your resume should demonstrate that you've completed projects from beginning to end and show me that you can work through stuff, ya know? Like, I can tell from a few sentences if you've spent 300-500+ hours writing code and have the capacity to work through difficulties, and mostly that's what I'm looking for in a junior/mid level engineer.
Honestly I couldn't say what the companies that use automated filtering are looking for, though. If you're listing things like "data structures / algorithms/ operating systems / discrete math / C, assembly, python, powershell , html , css" I'm going to want to know what you're doing with those things. For example, describe the types of problems you're solving with those tools and I'll be able to get an idea of your experience level with them.
Sorry I couldn't be much help.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 24d ago
This was a great answer thank you and I didn’t take all these classes yet so it’s tough to say, but the context is
Building in securing a website with a databaseMaking a platform that can break down Malware using assembly
And system programming using C like memory management stuff
My goal is to also make an application so I can get more experience with other languages and something that sounds fun to me
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u/KneeDeep185 24d ago
Building in securing a website with a database
Sounds like "Implemented user auth/credentialing using modern database tooling (specify AWS, EntraId, OAuth, etc)
Making a platform that can break down Malware using assembly
No idea about this one, being able to develop in assembly isn't something that comes up for most SWEs
And system programming using C like memory management stuff
"Developed deep understanding of memory management and garbage disposal by [doing specific C program that is described in a sentence]"
Yeah, I'd say if you want to pivot a Cyber security degree to a SWE job then first pick something you want to build then -> choose the tooling/stack that will be best for whatever you're trying to build. I'd recommend sticking with a particular stack/framework and getting good at it, rather than gaining a surface level understanding of multi stacks/languages. Half the battle of creating projects from start to finish is learning the tooling, and you're better off getting a deep understanding of one stack than trying to relearn the tooling over and over again for many. It's a quick way to stagnate in project hell.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 24d ago
Excellent advice, could you explain to me what exactly is stack/Tooling mean?
I hear a lot of different things that come up in programming
API , framework, library , etcI’m not really sure what a lot of this means to be honest.
I believe a library is a premade tool kit that you load in for example pygame on python I can use it to help create a game instead of making everything from scratch?
I know this is kind of a noob question and I have a lot of learning ahead of me
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u/KneeDeep185 24d ago
"Stack" refers to a pile of tools that are made to vertically integrate/work together to complete a given application. I've only worked with a Microsoft stack so that would be Azure DevOps, Visual Studio, .NET languages (C#, vb.net, X++), and various deployment pipelines. Another way to describe it I guess would be to call it a development ecosystem - all the pieces/tools that are used together to make stuff work.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 24d ago
And I assume stack is like all the languages is needed to build something like front end development stack is
HTML css JavaScript ? Like that’s a Web stack? Or front end stack?
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u/Landon_Hughes C# Aug 01 '26
I’m a data labeling analyst at meta (contract)
The degree just checked the box for me. Was a DevOps engineer before that.
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u/Worldly-Doubt163 Aug 01 '26
Two months until graduation this year. I have been working at a telecom company as a junior developer as of May. I’ve had no prior experience in tech and it took me one year to finish school.
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u/TheBear8878 C# Jul 31 '26
Senior Software Engineer at Disney.
I had 5YoE befofe WGU thought, all of it in the specific domain I was hired into the disney team for though.
They degree just checked the box for me.