Hi y’all, I’m going to attend an orientation session for Cambridge College, their Chesapeake, VA campus. It looks like exactly like what I want, to wit:
Accelerated program, meets Mon and Tues nights, 16 months total.
Objective is a Masters degree in Management, with a discipline in IT/E-commerce.
Learn dbase design, development, etc., in Oracle 9i. XML, etc., with Java and .net.
New laptop provided, books included in the tuition.
Unfortunately, the $700 a credit hour has me re-thinking.
Any 'Dopers attend this program, or something similar? I’m also now looking into the Univ. of Phoenix’s online program. Also, any Techie’s or IT management types please weigh-in with perceived benefits or lack thereof. Thanks!
Heh, I used to live a block away from it in Cambridge, but thats about the extent of my experience.
As a software architect/project manager though, I gotta tell you that I don’t know that a degree from a place like that is really going to help you get a job or get ahead. I suppose it depends on what you want to do. If you’re looking to be a DBA or programmer, it’s not going to be very useful. People hiring for those positions want experience, not a degree, and if the degree is important, they want it to come from a well known engineering school, not a community college.
If you’re employed, you’re better off doing some small training courses and trying to parlay that into getting onto a project at your current job that uses some of those skills. I would much rather hire a guy with just a bachelor’s degree who’d actually built something in the corporate world than a guy who had 10 advanced degrees but no practical experience.
Hey, thanks for the responses. racekarl, I’ve already been in the business 10+ years. I’m looking to get the master’s to get another leg up. According to their website, they’re a 4 yr accredited college with a number of undergrad degrees and 5 master’s programs. We’ve got several projects coming up in the next year, year and a half that involve Oracle, java and .net, that’s why I’m thinking I could kill two birds so to speak, by getting the training/education, and just in time to put it to practical use.
Well, here’s the deal: You will pay much more to learn the tech stuff because you will be getting a masters too (a masters that, to be frank, you will have a hard time getting any respect for). It is my opinion that you will have a hard time seeing any ROI on a masters from CC or Phoenix. If your employer will pay your tuition, go for it, but if you’re paying your own way, I think you should do one of those more specialized traning classes that deal exclusively with the tech you’re interested in. Since it’s so much cheaper, and will directly apply to your job, you will get a much better ROI.
Thanks for the frank opinion, racekarl. I have seriously considered going to ODU (where I got my MIS), or William & Mary, but didn’t want to put up with the hassle of registering for classes, et al. This program is setup one class after the other. I thought about the lack of cachet, so to speak, sort of like I’ve looked at cv’s from St. Leo’s (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) with less than enthusiasm. It seems in our organization (out of 17 dba/developers, only 2 do not have degrees, and 3 others have advanced degrees) the only way to differentiate in the pay scale is via getting an advanced degree.
I checked their accreditation nogginhead, unless there’s something I missed, they are accredited by the NEASC. The web link posted there doesn’t work, but you can check them out at cambridgecollege.edu.
I think when I first noticed them, it seemed odd that the accreditation was through a regional (not national) organization. But some colleges of good repute also only list that group as their accreditation.
I’ve heard of them, but only by virtue of having seen a couple of their buildings. They’ve had (part of?) one on Mass Ave in Central Sq for many years, a couple of doors down from where I used to work in the mid-90s, and just this past weekend I saw they also have a building on Prospect in Central Sq, near the intersection with Mass Ave. I think that’s fairly new.
I don’t know anything about their academic reputation, though. Sorry!
Hey thanks everybody for your input. I’ve decided to hold off on the program and concentrate in the next year on getting some tech certs instead. A lot of people I’ve talked to in the tech sector basically said the minute you get that MM, prospective employers will assume you want the management track, and I know the ROI on an MM with my current org is negligible. Thanks again. Mods, feel free to close this thread, thanks.