Completing a Computer Science Degree on Coursera

I got a Bachelor, Master, and PhD in Computer Science, with a total of 11 years of education. It's the biggest waste of time of my entire life.

As I progress in my professional career I'm more convinced that pretty much everything in tech is on-the-job learning, and universities are little more than a social club. Nowadays you can learn everything you do at university and far more online and for free.

Universities (elite ones particularly) still give you credentials that have some value getting a job. However I wonder for how long that will still be true. Learning by doing and building a portfolio sounds like a better way of getting in the industry today than getting a multi-year degree with nothing or little to show for it.

Nowadays I wouldn't recommend anyone to get a tech degree in a university unless it's a world class one. And even then, I would focus on networking and finding like-minded people rather than necessarily getting good grades.

Congrats!

> Group projects were also a common complaint. You were randomly assigned a group, but it was often unclear if the participants were even doing the course - many people were in completely ghost groups.

I see that nothing has changed in 20 years. Even when attended the courses physically in person, group project usually had 1 or 2 people doing all the work and the rest nowhere to be found, or just hanging out. :p

Congrats on sticking with the impulsive decision and congrats with your first class!

> The exams themselves are done remotely using Inspera proctoring software.

Then it's almost trivially easy to cheat with a VM, or, failing that, a KVM switch with real hardware.

Pure computer science, you can teach it on a chalk board, without ever touching an electronic device.

How do employers perceive such diploma? I would try to find out before spending time or money. Did you?

Congrats!

CS degree is not all that fun. You’re better off doing math and just learning to code on the side.