An associate's degree, for free, while I worked
Two years at the community college, paid for and worked around my first job, with exactly one plan: transfer it all into a real CS degree.
Before the four-year degree there was the cheap, smart first step: two years at St. Charles Community College, basically for free, from 2006 to 2008. I did it at the same time as my first job, which had the kind of flexibility that made showing up to class even possible.
It was mostly general education, and that was the whole point. I had a plan from the start: get the associate’s, then transfer it into a bachelor’s in computer science at UMSL. Two years, no debt, foundation laid.
I have the diploma, an Associate of Arts. What I don’t have is a photo from the ceremony, because I skipped it. I was already itching to start the real university program and didn’t want to stop and pose for the in-between one. I regret that a little now. Mostly I just remember being impatient.
It was the right move, though: free, flexible, and pointed exactly where I wanted to go next.