WGU | My initial thoughts after my first day

WGU's a great school, but I'm not off to a great start. For those who are new, I'm going for my Bachelors of Science in Cybersecurity and Information assurance and I just started my first term yesterday. I'm sure it will improve overtime, but I want wanted to be up front and honest with you about my experiences so far.

[@WarOfWords810]

You've just gained a new subscriber, I'm 26 and want to start a career change into Cyber Security. I'm glad that you're sharing your journey with us and i wish you the best.

[@CameronEvolved]

Thanks and good luck on your cybersecurity journey!

[@WarOfWords810]

@@RedTsunami wdym?

[@businessman200823]

As a Cengage user, I am going to warn you, when you are doing labs they are a bit unreliable. Just giving you a heads-up.

[@CameronEvolved]

Thanks for the heads up! 👍

[@409demo]

I start march 1st lets gooooooooo

[@DigitalLiquid]

How's it going? Any updates?

[@dannysubohms530]

I am currently an IT admin whos users use Google workspace we have a small % of what wgu has in terms of users and them canceling Google workspace drive resource seems so cheap on their behalf it's definitely no deal breaker but them now having licensing issues on the online curriculum seems like poor internal management indeed. Also google workspace is no more than 4 bucks a year per user for edu users also for every x amount of students you get free staff licensing. You're telling me out of the 9k per year per person it's not calculated in to that. Thanks for sharing your wgu journey!

[@CameronEvolved]

I saw that notification and I thought it was weird too. I'm assuming since we already have access to OneDrive, maybe they don't want to pay for both, but idk. 🤷‍♂

[@janets.2918]

That is definitely a bad start on their part. I have a feeling that the textbook that they are going to use is Society, Ethics, and Technology by Winston and Edelbach. I haven't taken the class, so I don't know for sure. Cengage lists the 5th edition, but the 3rd edition is available to borrow from Internet Archive's Open Library. It's not the most updated version, but it might be helpful. I wish you all the best!

[@CameronEvolved]

Thanks for the info!

[@PackMan13x]

I'm entering the final month of my first term and have been fortunate enough to not run into a single problem yet. Well the entire school was down for a few hours one day, but nothing outside of that. I'm working on my 15th class now with 4 weeks left. Goal is to finish 17 this term and my final 17 next term. Was hoping to finish more, but the OA classes are a little harder than I expected and I've done almost all OAs thus far. Good luck.

[@CameronEvolved]

Completing 14 in 1 term in amazing! Good luck on the last 3 classes. You got this!

[@mhinton433]

I’m just getting started as well. Was able to get my gen ed courses crossed off due to my associates degree. I’m starting off with Intro to IT. Shouldn’t be too hard as I’ve taken the pre assessment and passed. I’m going for BSNes Cisco. Good luck!

[@CameronEvolved]

Good luck!

[@edgom6216]

were you able to transfer non ged courses?

[@lopezgregory6]

Not always the client, sometimes the vendor has issues.

[@BrooklynSwaggBoi]

I use Cengage for my Linux admin class and the lab simulator is a pain when using the CLI. (I would type an option and argument and nothing would be responsive not even an error message).

[@ceciliakazee7598]

I used Cengage in community college. It can be a pain at times.

[@davidp4081]

Option B for exam sounds good. Current student, worst case scenario is retake.

[@CameronEvolved]

I chose option B and passed! 😊

[@davidp4081]

@@CameronEvolved Congrats! Unless it's a cert exam no big deal to retake objective assessment or have to fix a practical assessment.

[@JamosisKlyde]

Thanks for the information. I might have to peruse another university for my masters when I graduate next year

[@CameronEvolved]

They're kinda sloppy at times. I'm not completely convinced that I'll pursue my master at WGU once I get my bachelors, but I hoping it'll get better after the first week.

[@josecanas838]

You definitely got a rough start sorry that your going through that

[@CameronEvolved]

It's ok. I suspect it'll be resolved within a day or so.... at least I hope so😅

[@tammythomas2057]

Thanks for the update....

[@CameronEvolved]

Thanks for watching!

[@mariolopez12]

Cameron, Based on the visibility you now have on the WGU English Comp II course. Do you still feel it was the right call to skip the Sophia Eng Comp II? I’m contemplating making the same move and would appreciate your assessment as you are ahead of me by a few months. Thanks and good luck.

[@CameronEvolved]

I'd highly recommend just waiting and doing it at WGU. It'll be MUCH faster.

[@tehczavier]

I wish every course was performance based.

[@bansonsy3382]

Facts. I'm in the Software Development program and legit can't understand why 90% of the course is OAs. Hopefully the new Software Engineering program changes that

[@tehczavier]

@@bansonsy3382 yeah that makes very little sense. I thought SWE would be mainly portfolio projects.

[@CameronEvolved]

I have mixed feelings about it. I don't like academic writing, but sometimes I think I'd prefer it over regular exams... as long as it's covering a topic I'm interested in.

[@justjaymar_]

@@bansonsy3382 how hard is that? I was contemplating on that or computer science degree

[@bansonsy3382]

@@justjaymar_ Depends on how much experience you've had prior. I had some experience so classes weren't too bad. You really will learn a lot. Some classes I will say, aren't structured the best so that can be very frustrating. Only encountered one so far. The others are fortunately being replaced in March with the new Software Engineering program.

[@kevinliu7785]

Hi Cameron, I came across your videos while searching for information on school. I must admit, I'm not very comfortable with the idea of attending school. However, I have an AA in Math and Science, as well as certifications like Sec+, CISSP, and a job in cybersecurity. In one of your videos, you mentioned WGU. I'm considering pursuing a BS degree before moving on to other things. I wanted to ask you about any helpful websites or resources you found useful during your own studies. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Kevin

[@Ghstownlv]

Been trying 😅to access my labs for 2 days they said the site under maintenance 👨🏻‍🔧 I’m like of course it is

[@CameronEvolved]

I've noticed they've been having a lot of problems lately. 🙁 Hopefully it'll clear up soon so you can access what you need.

[@jgmachine]

I had to kind of grimace when you mentioned the licensing issue. I work in IT in k12 school districts and am almost solely responsible for rostering class data into these types of applications. The problem in my situation is multi-fold. There are a lot of parties involved and there isn't good communication or processes to ensure everything goes off smoothly. Students will be back for classes on Tuesday and I fully anticipate tickets coming in with rostering/licensing/SSO issues to get into connected curriculum. Despite my best efforts and trying to improve communication and processes, I'm just one man. It's kind of expected at this point when terms change (Fall/Spring/Summer School), the institutions I work with have had a hard time keeping up with the pace and change of technology and the vast amounts of systems that we need to integrate with. I would guess your issues have something to do with being the start of the new year or maybe some new processes, you had mentioned some changes in classes recently too, so maybe everything isn't dialed in just yet. I'm sure they have better processes in place than we do, but issues will still come up. You seem to be pretty level headed about it all though. I've recently considered getting an MBA or some other Tech focused Masters. I have a non-tech BA and have worked in IT for about 10 years now. Just today I came across WGU and am super enticed. Thanks for making these videos, I'll definitely be keeping tabs!

[@mocajesussaysdie]

Question: you said that you couldn’t move forward with the two classes that you were scheduled to take originally, but you could see the rubric for the assignments in English 2. did you have to have your program mentor unlock English to so that you could see that? or was it something that you could see but not start officially? I am wondering if you can see the rubrics for all the assignments and all of your classes even if they’re not “unlocked“.

[@CameronEvolved]

Unless the class is unlocked, you can't see the rubric for the assignments. If I remember correctly, you might be able to see how many assignments you have, but you won't be able to see the details.

[@rokerlykdat]

I've heard that the initial start is always a little rough

[@CameronEvolved]

Yeah that's what I've been hearing too.

[@annen.3439]

is it initial start of every month?

[@rokerlykdat]

@@annen.3439 Yes every term start I hear there are issues for new students.

[@gardenyanoor1489]

Did your mentor let you take the classes you wanted to take??? Also how many classes are you currently taking this first 6 month term? You made me nervous abt my first phone call with my mentor. I hope they’re not 5 hours late like what happened to you lol

[@CameronEvolved]

My first mentor didn't, but once I requested a new mentor, the new mentor let me choose my classes. I was assigned 4 classes for my first term (i think they usually assign between 3-5). If you finish those early before the term ends, you can unlock additional classes. I'm planning on doing 10 classes this term.

[@jim5526]

Today is a holiday

[@CameronEvolved]

That's a good point. Most of the staff was probably out.

[@Xbox-le5he]

Sounds like a cluster ____

[@CameronEvolved]

WGU is not having a good new year so far. 😂