From Dabbler to A New Career and Master's Degree

Rick Morrow, '21, was ready for a change.

“I kind of dabbled in coding most of my life, but didn’t have any formal credential. When COVID started, I decided it was a good time to make a career switch.

“I had done coding boot-camp things, but I wasn’t getting much traction with interviews. I decided I needed to do something more serious. I wanted a university program, but with a focus on enabling my career transition.

“The Graduate Certificate in Software Development Engineering from the UW Tacoma School of Engineering & Technology ended up being ideal for me. It’s a six-course program that takes a year. It’s optimized for working professionals. Classes meet on Saturdays.

“Even though my classes were remote because of the pandemic, we met in real time. I felt this was a key strength. The communal aspect of collaborating in teams and having a cohort of peers was one of the things I liked most. We all felt vested in each other’s success.

“For me, the student collaboration and community of alumni I am now a part of is as important as the course material. Having folks there that I can go through the material with, that I can talk about ideas with –that’s always been 90% of education for me.

“The program is structured around assignments, group projects and tests. The group projects really stood out for me. We were using all the tools that you would use in the workplace, and having to collaborate with people who might think a little bit differently than me about how to build something.

“The program also covers CS fundamentals, like algorithms, data structures and design patterns. None of the boot-camp experiences I had earlier gave that kind of coverage. With those fundamentals, I have a much better understanding of what I might build and why I might build it that way.”

Rick leveraged his SDE graduate certificate into a new full-time position with an e-commerce provider. And, armed with the certificate, he decided to continue his education at UW Tacoma –he is now doing coursework in the Computer Science & Systems master of science degree program.

For more information about the UW Tacoma SET Graduate Certificate in Software Development Engineering, visit our website.