Wanted to share a success story with folks who are considering WGU, and maybe some inspiration for people currently working the grind.

I started WGU in January of 2019 getting a BS in Cybersecurity. Worked full time, but was managing to put away five or so classes every term. Fast forward to the end of 2019, and the family business closes and myself and my wife both are unemployed. Got on unemployment before the system got overloaded in 2020, so receiving those payments during the pandemic was never an issue for us. 2020 was a great year for me. I treated WGU like my full time job, grinding it eight to ten hours a day, and blasted through fifty some odd CUs from January to March. Graduated, and started applying.

After getting my resume spiffed up by professionals, I started getting interviews. Mid-June, I got offered a position as a Cybersecurity analyst in state government starting at 78k a year and letting me move back to the PNW. With zero actually Cybersecurity industry experience.

2020 was a fantastic year for me.

It's been a wild ride of a year, with incidents happening that let me prove my skill set, knowledge and capabilities. As of the fifteenth, I was promoted to a senior position with a nearly 10k pay bump, with annual raises that are guaranteed, etc.

Not too bad for a failed college brick and mortar student. WGU works. More and more people take the degree seriously. My overall IT manager (over 100ish people) was a WGU grad and that figured into me getting the first position.

I guess all of this blather boils down to don't give up. Work the classes, do the grind, and you'll definitely see doors open up for you.

Edit: Resume service I used was www.finaldraftresumes.com. They'll give me an Amazon card if I give you a referral link, but honestly, they were so good that I don't even care about that. Spendy, but it was well worth it. Once they did my thing (I paid for their top package since hey, all that covid unemployment money) I went from no phone calls for a whole month to two or three a week.