Would you hire a DeVry graduate?

[recovering19A]

Would you take someone with a Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering Technology from DeVry seriously? I’m looking to make a career change and am thinking about going back to school. For engineering schools the most feasible option, in light of geography, family, work, and financial situation, would be DeVry. I come from a family of graduates of 4 year liberal arts schools and I’m not sure if I’m being snobby or if this is a real concern. But I don’t want to spend $50k+ for another degree in order to get a job repairing vacuum cleaners (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

I’d love to hear what isn’t in DeVry’s admissions literature. I know that they’re accredited, but they’re also a for-profit school. What do those of you in technical fields think of them? Positive/negative experiences with the school or its graduates? Are you a DeVry grad who can provide some insight about your own experiences? This isn’t a decision I’ll be making tomorrow and it would help to get some feedback from people who don’t have an interest in the situation.

[Joe4d]

You probably waanna to do some backward planning, take a long hard look at real job openings and want adds, look at what the minimum and preferred qualifications, college job placement stats are pretty meaningless, A culinary arts school will list Subway, as "placed in field" so take them with a grain of salt. Bigger companies have intern programs for engineering fields specifically becasue kids come out of college without the skills the companies need, Dominion power at Surry nuke plant has a good one. I cant speak for electronics engineering but Marine Engineering is regulated by the Coastguard and the sorce of your knowledge isnt near as important as the knowledge itself and if you can pass the exams. CIvilian employers are looking for the license not the degree.

[NewColonial]

the sorce of your knowledge isnt near as important as the knowledge itself

Well, said. I would add that determination and ability to learn and adapt are as, if not more, important.

I hired a DeVry graduate as a sysadmin when we opened our Denver-area NOC. I was not familiar with the school at all, and hardly looked into it. I looked at the skill set and experience of the person. I can learn more in sitting face-to-face with the person than I can by looking at his piece of paper. He turned out to be one of the best hires I've ever made. The only reason he isn't here is he was lured away after a couple of years by a tech startup. (His offer was so good I couldn't in good conscience fault him.) We keep in touch and he's now doing extremely well.

FWIW, I have a graduate degree from a "for-profit" school too. What got me my job was *me*, not the "company" name on the piece of paper.

[ChuckS]

DeVry has been around forever. I grew up in the Chicago area where it was founded. The basic thing was if you were looking at fresh grads, you could put the DeVry kid to work right away where a smart kid from the University of Illinois took some time to be useful

BSEET can be a bit of a drag on a career as opposed to BSEE at places that have higher regard for such institutions so look at what you want to do with this degree before starting out. Career growth can be a bit hindered by the "T"

Good Luck,

Chuck

[MarkCO]

Probably not. I've been a consulting engineer for quite a while and I run across all manner of engineers, from PhDs to Technology degrees. I am licensed as a PE and qualified as a Mechancial Engineering Expert from local through Federal court. In my experience, you can get a good education anywhere if you apply yourself. However, all engineering is based on "Systems" and "Approximations". For that reason, quality hands-on experience is VERY important along with a good measure of common sense. If you had a Technology degree AND 10 to 12 years of real world trade expereince under that degree, and were bright and motivated, sure. In some cases, I'd take a Technology degree person over a PhD.

If you want to be an "Engineer", in most states you have to have a Professional Engineers license. If you go 4 year ABET Engineering accredited, then you need 8 years of experience (4 years for the BS, 1 each for a M and PhD and the rest work experience) and 2 tests to get that license (in most states). If you go with a Technology degree, that number rises to 12 to 16 years, again depending on the state, basically doubling or trippling the work experience requirement. There is also a move on to require a Masters to even sit for the PE test, largely because of the watered down Technology degrees. You can not get into a Masters Engineering program with a Engineering Technology degree, you would need 5 or 6 undergrad classes. Also, the pass rate for the 2 tests for people with Technology degrees is about 30% of the pass rate for those with Engineering degrees. Depending on the year, that could mean about a 10 to 15% pass rate. I've had three employees with Technology degrees and only one eventually got his PE, after taking the test 3 times, the others gave up. The 6 or so courses left out of the technology degree are where the actual engineering gets taught.

Now, from a totally different perspective, IF you don't want to consult or design, and would rather be a plant or facilites management type of guy, then the Technology degrees are good, in fact that is why they were originally designed. A lot of large manufacturers have Engineering Technology degree people running the production lines, in jobs that 20 years ago belonged to people with Engineering degrees. When I go into a plant, it is becoming more common for me to deal with someone with a technology degree and by-pass the PE who sits in his office and does not know much about the actual operations.

[lrf]

I'm not sure of what state you are in, but here in Ohio some community colleges have transfer modules with 4 year institutions. Im currently pursuing a degree in accounting. I'm attending Sinclair Community College then those credits transfer seamlessly over to Wright State University. It's not just state schools; some private schools are on the transfer list. Don't know if this works in your state, but it's something to look into.

Edited February 19, 2011 by lrf

[SiG Lady]

"... you can get a good education anywhere if you apply yourself."

I can't speak for Engineering folks directly but can relate a little to for-profit schools and for-profit distance learning: I spent a few months in a local business school some time back and it changed my life very positively. Local businesses tend to think highly of folks who go to school locally and apply themselves. I really got a lot out of the experience because I took advantage of every little thing that was offered (and also served on the student council). In other words, I applied myself and squeezed out every advantage of the opportunity. Cost about $6,000 at the time. Would be more now.

I recently finished a very affordable distance-learning program (and some programs of this sort are REALLY expensive--this one wasn't, for some reason). I got a lot out of it because I applied myself and am self-motivated to work quickly and efficiently. I did, however, miss the bricks-and-mortar advantage of having fellow students and live teachers to meet with. But distance learning is a reasonable compromise and provided me with VITAL information, reference books and knowledge--much more than I had before I started the program. It's a year-long program and I finished in the 3.5 months I projected.

I priced out a local for-profit, bricks-and-mortar career school a year ago and the 13-month program that was the closest to the one I wanted was going to cost about $24,000 total. I was shocked. It didn't seem worth it. I didn't want to go into debt for a program that was going to cover a lot of what I already knew and was not my first choice anyway. But, again, it wasn't Engineering and some of the bigger career schools aren't located here--the closest is Portland and that's where you'd find DeVry and similar institutions.

When I did work for civil engineers locally, and saw many resumes from engineering folks, the boss wanted to see a little hands-on experience more than years and years of intense schooling. Our PEs were willing to train new folks a bit. Our guys tended to go out on site a lot (with the kind of work we did) and needed engineers who were willing to do the hands-on project management as well as the technical stuff in the office. This little company took on a couple of newbies and they turned out to be very good choices.

[recovering19A]

If you want to be an "Engineer", in most states you have to have a Professional Engineers license.

This is why I believe in asking all of the questions I can.

Edited February 20, 2011 by recovering19A

[TRUbor9]

I dont know where you live, but the 4.5yr program im looking into has a manditory coop program so you make money as you learn and you get hands on expirience aswell the company(s) that you work with are more likely to hire you! good luck and good job on going back to school

[Graham Smith]

This is a tough question. Schools like DeVry used to be classed as "technical schools" and were not accredited in the way a "college" was. And technical schools developed a bit of a black eye because some were teaching skills that were years out of touch with current practice (like TV repair).

The bigger problem now with some of these schools is that they are fairly expensive and often don't qualify for any scholarships, grants, or low cost student loans. So students can end up with huge debts at high interest rates.

Before I spent any money on any school, I'd be looking around to see what your target job market would be if you had that degree. Then go to the HR departments and talk with them and find out what they are looking for. Find out if there are any places that offer work/study programs. Find out if there are any state, local, or federal training programs. Etc. Getting a degree for the sake of a piece of paper on the wall is not such a great idea right now because there are a lot of people with bigger and better degrees out there looking for work.