I just got back from a nice, lengthy vacation and am now gearing up for my first WGU semester. The WGU program is fairly heavy on Java, and many people recommend the Java MOOC by the University of Helsinki. I completed the first half back in December 2022 when I was still debating if I wanted the CS degree, and filled out the WGU application after a month.

The MOOC uses a branched version of Netbeans to submit assignments to the web-based tutorial. It is slightly buggy and freezes occasionally, but so far the code hasn’t been too complex and most performance issues can be resolved by closing-and-reopening the IDE and ensuring that you don’t have too many projects open at once.

Much of my last few months have been spent taking gen-ed courses with Sophia and Study.com, and I took a bit of the Python MOOC just to stay in practice, so my Java could use a refresh. I made a new account on the MOOC to start over on the exercises, and I’m hoping to get to my previous stopping point by the end of the week. The class says that it takes ~150 hours to complete, so while I likely won’t have it complete by August 1st (when my semester starts), it does provide something productive to do while I wait to finally start with WGU!