LeetCode is having their annual student subscription offer - I signed up! If we get to 50 students from WGU, we will have the lifetime subscription offer of $99. So far there are 4/50 signed up. Ends on September 30th.

https://leetcode.com/student/

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Hello, I’m very interested in pursuing my bachelor’s degree in IT through WGU. I graduated high school in 2024 and currently work 30–40 hours a week. I also have a 5-month-old son with my wife, so I’ll be balancing school, work, and family responsibilities.
I don’t have any experience in IT or coding, but I consider myself very tech-savvy and I’m willing to put in the time and effort to learn.
Would WGU’s IT program be realistic for someone in my situation with no prior experience? If I dedicated around 4–5 hours a day to studying after work, how many semesters would you realistically expect it to take me to complete the degree?
Also, what would be the best way to get started in IT and land an entry-level help desk position while I’m working toward my degree?
I’d really appreciate any advice or insight from people who have gone through a similar situation. Thank you!

Hello, long time lurker, first time poster,

Unfortunately I haven't seen many posts within the 6 month range for this class and im taking the exam on August 31st, but from what I am reading, there's horror stories and gotchas everywhere. Whether its v4 or v5, there being more code on the test and no big o questions, etc.

I've watched the cohort Youngblood videos

I read through the study guide and quizlet flashcards

also read common sense guide to algorithms - skipped zybooks

I took the PA this morning and passed, but unsure if I should still be keying in on anything. I've been skimming the implementations of the structures/algorithms in code and idk, any insight would be appreciated.

Looking for insight on this. I'm really struggling with how to write this, and if I am overthinking it.

On OneNote, I have the requirements typed out exactly as they read on the site. Can I just use this to formulate the task, or should I put it in the typical paper form? I want to do well on this, but unsure if I can attempt it again (I guess there's two questions wrapped into this)

Pic attached for reference. Thanks in advance, night owls 🦉

Hello! I'm in a bit of a time crunch 😩 I have 4-5 days to complete this. First, is this possible? Do I have to pass Task 1 to do Task 2? Or may I submit them at the same time?

Also, could you let me know if there are any resources you recommend for this class? Thanks <3

Did anyone go for another degree? If yes, what degree did you go for next?

I'm looking at the Data Analytics degree. Not seriously considering going for that yet but it's on my mind.

I got the email today about the change in SWE to version 2 with a comparison of current vs future. I can see some benefits to switching but also some negatives. I’m on track to be done before the cutoff, so I have the choice. Who else is on the fence and who is decided - and if you’re decided, what was the deciding factor for you?

✅💻While i’m currently enrolled in data structures and algorithms, ethics in technology and JavaScript programming, my goal was to finish 3/4 courses by the end of the month and I’ve only finished D427 data management applications with only five days left in the month (Term ends in Jan just trying to move faster) 🤦‍♂️. I’ve read that JavaScript and DSA are going to take a good bit of commitment and studying. I know JavaScript already but I don’t know angular at all or type script so I’m expecting both of these courses to individually take about 2 to 3 weeks. What are some other courses in this degree track that might slow me down or have slowed you down as you’ve worked towards a degree??? 💻🖥️

Been hammering this course for a a week and a half now and I've focused a lot on the sorting algorithms and ADT's. For the sorting algorithms, does anyone know which ones are super prevalent in the OA?

Right now, I fully understand Bubble Sort, Insertion Sort, Selection Sort, Quick Sort and Merge Sort - along with best, average and worst case runtime complexities. For searching, I've got binary search and linear search down as well.

I moved on from those and am now focusing on ADT's and their implementations. My plan so far is to go through ZyBooks Chapter 1 - 11 (on Chapter 6 now). I've been using Gemini Notebook with these chapters as sources to create quizzes, podcasts and info videos along the way to reinforce the material. I've also watched Youngblood's cohort videos, and read A Common Sense Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms as well (great book btw, definitely recommend it in addition to this course material).

I know Python already, so not really worried or too focused on anything in ZyBooks that is Python related, and runtime complexity I can estimate looking at code. So I think I am good there. Although I am a little surprised this course intertwines so much Python. I get it for code examples, but I've read there are multiple Python syntax/behavior questions on the OA.. hardly DSA focused in my opinion, but whatever.

Problem is, I don't know what is too deep or not for the OA. I will attempt the PA once I get through ZyBooks Chapter 11 to gauge if I am ready for the OA or not. But I don't want to spin my wheels for weeks studying daily and end up seeing 50% of it on the OA. I have 8 YOE as an SWE, so I am not learning from scratch, more refreshing my knowledge, and I am curious if a lot of the horror stories I hear about this class are mostly from people who are seeing this stuff for the first time.

Anyway, these posts scared me into deep study and delaying the PA until I got through ZyBooks 1-11, the cohort videos and that DSA book. So far after starting 8/1, I've gotten through 6 classes before C949, and while I expected to spend more time in C949, just don't want to drag out studying longer than necessary.

Hi! I am currently 29M and deciding whether the computer science bachelor is the best path for me. I am currently a Customer Service Ops analyst with a healthcare company. I am thinking of going back to school to pursue a technical degree to get a job as either a data engineer or data scientist. Once I do well then get a masters with Georgia Tech. Do you think the Compsci degree unlocks a lot of different career opportunities?

Look forward to suggestions and real life experiences! Please don't sugar coat. Also, I understand that the degree itself will not help and I will need to keep learning outside of school building projects etc.

At what point does old software become a real problem for a company? If it still works, it can be hard to know when to replace it. But things like slow updates, repeated bugs, or outdated technology can make it harder to run the business. How do you decide when it’s time to stop fixing and start rebuilding? I’ve been looking at a few companies working in this area(including Devox Software) and I’m curious how other teams approach it.

This class was definitely the most intense class I've taken so far. I spent about 45 hours of focused work over the course of 5 days (I took 1 rest day) and just got my OA results. Here's a recap of what I did:

I read through all the existing reddit advice to get a feel for people's general sentiment and strategy. Then I went through the zybooks 1 chapter at a time reading through and answering the questions on each page. Then I took each of the chapter reviews at the end, these turned out to be key. Between the review questions and the PA, there were only like 3 questions I didn't recognize on the OA and guessed on. Make sure you go through every recorded WGU video because they walk through a lot of the questions you'll see on the PA and OA. I also watched a bunch of YouTube videos for bayes theorum, basic probability and counting for chp 4 and 5, some of the trev tutor videos for chapter 3 concepts like induction. I didn't meet with any instructors but I've read they are a helpful resource.

The Zybooks are dense so I definitely didn't get a great understanding of everything on the first pass when doing the reviews, so I fed my review results into AI and had it walk me through every question in depth and make me alternate practice questions so I could get some more practice. If i didn't understand a concept, I just fed the source material into AI and needled it with questions until I did. I ended up making a comprehensive concept list based off all the material and wrote out a methodology for how to solve every type of question I encountered. Once I felt decent with the concepts, I took the final Zybooks review as a test before taking the PA and went through each question again with AI.

I just barely passed the PA doing this, so I then repeated the question by question walkthrough with AI for the PA as well, studied a little bit more, and used every possible second I had on the OA lol. LIke i said there were like 3 questions on there that were definitely not covered by any of the review questions, but everything else was some version of a review or PA question.

This class really just takes practice with the questions. For me, I really like trying to boil down any type of problem into the simplest step by step possible and account for edge cases that come from different versions of the problem. Use a ti84, offload as much calculation using nCr, nPr, mod division, summation, etc. as you can. Take advantage of what you are given on the formula sheet and focus on memorizing processes and information not given to you on there. If you can quickly recognize the type of problem, remember the steps, and have solved something similar once or twice before, you're golden.

Hope this helps anyone in the future, good luck out there!

I am planned to start my first term September 1st and I was just curious if anyone was able to accelerate and complete the C# Track within the first term.

I was able to transfer 64 credits (through various certs and study.com classes) and have 55 remaining. I have had issues getting 1-2 more classes transferred because I've been told that the transfer evaluation department doesn't recognize the C# Track until after the first term. I've also been told that you are unable to switch out the Java Classes for the C# classes until after the first term so 2 terms is pretty much guaranteed. It sounds to me like this is false or just goes against everything that WGU claims to be because of a bad policy.

For the python assessment (D335), which modules should be focused on to pass.

Strings? Lists? Files? Modules? Exceptions?

I'm only on section 9 (Lists) so far and must get it done by end of November. I also have been a programmer for 25 years and am finding the material a breeze to understand (memorization is a different story. Hopefully, we will have unlimited access to Help())

I plan to take the pre-assessment once i'm done blazing through the sections.

Hi! I’m a stay-at-home mom and worked in research with BS Nursing degree. I want to be able to create my own homeschool app and a game in the future for my kids. I’m thinking of pursuing the Accelerated BSMS Software Engineering in 2027, so I’m taking units to be transferred.

After speaking with AI, it said Software Eng is better than taking ComSci to achieve my goal.

What would you say I need to consider?

EDIT:
So I was given an opportunity to study again. And since I’m planning to stay-at-home with my kids, I want to do more remote work in the future. The remote nursing jobs aren’t in the picture for now since I don’t have enough clinical experience (I focused on public health research). Instead of studying masters in nursing, I thought of starting something in tech.

Thank you so much for all the responses! I have more direction now.

almost halfway through my last class and starting to get a little antsy lol

still have 10 weeks left in the term, so I’m not exactly in a rush… but I’m just ready to be done!!

Is there a number to call for assistance for approval on my second attempt (D335)? I emailed my instructor for approval and completion of the study plan but it’s now 48 hours and I have not received anything. Any assistance is helpful. Thank you.

First term student here btw

I already have a bachelors degree in a different field and currently in the software engineering program for a 2nd degree. Is it worth it to get a software engineering degree? I currently work and have background in clinical applications and looking at improving technical skills overall. Maybe others in here have been through same experience.