Wow! What a reputation: Alaska number one in sexually transmitted diseases? (Anchorage: credit, house)

[riceme]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Couples do this sort of thing pretty often, though. You could go to school in FB and come home weekends, and maybe there's on campus housing you could get.

Yep, I have a friend in town that got married last year. He works in Anchorage during the week and flies home on the weekends. He'll be opening a branch of their outfit up here sometime in the next couple of years. In the meantime, they are very happy and make it work.

[Frostnip]

Yup. It's not Mars. It's a $90, 90 minute plane flight.

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Couples do this sort of thing pretty often, though. You could go to school in FB and come home weekends, and maybe there's on campus housing you could get.

Considering I already have a BS from a top tier school, a PE and a substantial amount of EE course work I am weary of how much leverage an MS would provide me. I am treating the MS as almost a hobbie because if I am struggling with all the credentials I have now how is piling more academics on going to turn on employers?

Thus I dont want to over pay, start talking room and board tuition air fare, truck wear and tear and on and on it will be a 30 grand deal and will that MS EE allow me to walk in and write my own ticket at my employer of choice? ..... I highly doubt it. So it becomes a sort of leverage vs cost equation and while I think EE/physics/mathematics is awesome, I am not going to go into debt over it or burn up everything I have saved to do it. I did it the first time for the first degree, not doing it again, to much stress having debt.

The problem is employers are not really painting a clear picture of what exactly it is they are looking for, they post jobs and even interview for jobs that they never fill or there are so many applicants that your odds of landing an offer are slim, etc. I dont think this is anything new under the sun, it took me over a year to find my first job back in 2004/5 so ....

My rant was more about bringing the programs to the population base of Alaska so that people can study what they want without it being a major financial boondoggle. Studying some topic should not always require gaining leverage in the job market, but when getting said classes/degree require a bunch of costs then that component cant be ignored.

But for UAA I can just pay my in state tuition and drive down on my "lunch" break and go to class if I am working or if im not it does not require any costs to me out of pocket other than the tuition.

Sure, if I were at a 6 figure job again where said employer supported such things that would be great, my wife can even work remote a few days a week and it would be kinda fun. But thats not my situation right now.

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

Considering I already have a BS from a top tier school, a PE and a substantial amount of EE course work I am weary of how much leverage an MS would provide me. I am treating the MS as almost a hobbie because if I am struggling with all the credentials I have now how is piling more academics on going to turn on employers?

Thus I dont want to over pay, start talking room and board tuition air fare, truck wear and tear and on and on it will be a 30 grand deal and will that MS EE allow me to walk in and write my own ticket at my employer of choice? ..... I highly doubt it. So it becomes a sort of leverage vs cost equation and while I think EE/physics/mathematics is awesome, I am not going to go into debt over it or burn up everything I have saved to do it. I did it the first time for the first degree, not doing it again, to much stress having debt.

The problem is employers are not really painting a clear picture of what exactly it is they are looking for, they post jobs and even interview for jobs that they never fill or there are so many applicants that your odds of landing an offer are slim, etc. I dont think this is anything new under the sun, it took me over a year to find my first job back in 2004/5 so ....

My rant was more about bringing the programs to the population base of Alaska so that people can study what they want without it being a major financial boondoggle. Studying some topic should not always require gaining leverage in the job market, but when getting said classes/degree require a bunch of costs then that component cant be ignored.

But for UAA I can just pay my in state tuition and drive down on my "lunch" break and go to class if I am working or if im not it does not require any costs to me out of pocket other than the tuition.

Sure, if I were at a 6 figure job again where said employer supported such things that would be great, my wife can even work remote a few days a week and it would be kinda fun. But thats not my situation right now.

Try learning some artificial intelligence. Degree may take too long, just order a book on tensor flow from Amazon and start. Learning only requires your PC. Software is all free. Install anaconda and download the tensor flow package (should all be described in the book). A job in research would require a PhD, but applications you can just learn and create a project to get experience on.

If you don't know python, you'll want to start with that.

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by jdhpa

Try learning some artificial intelligence. Degree may take too long, just order a book on tensor flow from Amazon and start. Learning only requires your PC. Software is all free. Install anaconda and download the tensor flow package (should all be described in the book). A job in research would require a PhD, but applications you can just learn and create a project to get experience on.

If you don't know python, you'll want to start with that.

I have the book on tensor flow, I found, what I think is a great book on AI from MIT open course ware.

I am working on a FOIA request to get the DOE aspen software so that I can build out my own version of Hysys. So i can compete against the engineering contractors in Anchorage directly, the only software that gives them leverage from a process engineering stand point is hysys, if I can create my own version of it I could VERY easily under cut them for process work.

I am wrapping up a course in partial differential equations this semester at UAA and then I am looking at doing the school of PE to finish my EE PE.

If it comes down to it we will have a family meeting and figure out how to make the bills work with me working somewhere like brown jug to where I can still keep taking classes towards an advanced degree.

I would love to get a PhD and if we can hash out the bills so that I can work a lower end job that would be ideal.

If I would have had just a few more years we could have paid the house off and then I would totally be working at brown jug right now and taking masters classes online. I think brown jug would be a fun job, its just tough to make the bills work out on that income. But if it comes down to it we will figure it out as an extended family since this issue is outside of my control and no one who cares about me wants me working a rotational schedule, its horrible for family life.

Would you say python is better than learning Java? I can program in VB and will likely have to learn fortran if I get that info from the FOIA request since the original aspen code is 20-30 years old. I can also use mathematica and matlab as well.

Now when I take classes I am not taking them just to get through and get the degree, I am looking for deep understanding so the progress is slower, I am hoping that I don't have to go back to a situation where I am having to load up on classes and just get through them because I need a job kind of deal again, you loose so much when you do things that way.

[jdhpa]

python is the language used for AI. Java is used for web programming. So it really depends on what you want to do.

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by jdhpa

python is the language used for AI. Java is used for web programming. So it really depends on what you want to do.

Python vs ruby?

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

It does apply, I dont have a job but my wife does, plus we own a home that we bought VERY low so our costs are fixed.

If it were just me I could go to UAF ..... or I could drive to another state until I got residency and live in a pop up camper where it does not routinely get -20 to -30 all winter long with dips to -55 or -60.

I cant even imagine what the utilities cost for a rental in fairbanks, I highly doubt land lords include heating in the rent prices and if they do its likely steep rent.

The cost for renting in Fairbanks is similar to Anchorage. If renting, heat is part of the deal, but electrical cost for plugging your car outdoors is yours. If you rent and apartment at UAF the cost is pretty much equal to Anchorage, but all the utilities and Internet are part off the rent.

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

Python vs ruby?

I've never used Ruby, but I believe it is also for web programming.

[Haolejohn]

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

Considering I already have a BS from a top tier school, a PE and a substantial amount of EE course work I am weary of how much leverage an MS would provide me. I am treating the MS as almost a hobbie because if I am struggling with all the credentials I have now how is piling more academics on going to turn on employers?

Thus I dont want to over pay, start talking room and board tuition air fare, truck wear and tear and on and on it will be a 30 grand deal and will that MS EE allow me to walk in and write my own ticket at my employer of choice? ..... I highly doubt it. So it becomes a sort of leverage vs cost equation and while I think EE/physics/mathematics is awesome, I am not going to go into debt over it or burn up everything I have saved to do it. I did it the first time for the first degree, not doing it again, to much stress having debt.

The problem is employers are not really painting a clear picture of what exactly it is they are looking for, they post jobs and even interview for jobs that they never fill or there are so many applicants that your odds of landing an offer are slim, etc. I dont think this is anything new under the sun, it took me over a year to find my first job back in 2004/5 so ....

My rant was more about bringing the programs to the population base of Alaska so that people can study what they want without it being a major financial boondoggle. Studying some topic should not always require gaining leverage in the job market, but when getting said classes/degree require a bunch of costs then that component cant be ignored.

But for UAA I can just pay my in state tuition and drive down on my "lunch" break and go to class if I am working or if im not it does not require any costs to me out of pocket other than the tuition.

Sure, if I were at a 6 figure job again where said employer supported such things that would be great, my wife can even work remote a few days a week and it would be kinda fun. But thats not my situation right now.

Pitts I know if I ever meet you, we’d be friends. I don’t agree with everything you say, and heck, I’m willing to say hardly anything you say, but I just got a feeling.

You nailed the cost of education dilemma right here. There’s a point that the education costs doesn’t make financial sense.

I’m at the point where the only way I can get a pay raise is to get a $40k degree that will increase my income by $3-4K a year. Makes no sense.