As of this morning it's official - money has changed hands and I'm headed back to college. I've enrolled in an online undergraduate program in Software Development which will fit around my current work schedule. When the administrative dust settles, it's looking like a Bachelor's of Science in about two and a half to three years and I've selected a track that will result in a certificate in C++ Programming after about a year.

It's been...yikes... lots of years since I've been in formal schooling, and that schooling was not in software. I'm pretty nervous - it turns out entering as an adult this time around doesn't help a ton with the whole angst shindig! Go figure.

If you had the chance to re-take your software degree, knowing what you know now, is there anything you'd do differently? How would you make the most use of your time during and between semesters? Is there anything specific I should try to prepare for leading up to the start of class next January? What surprised you starting out?

If anyone else has done an online degree while also working full time in a separate domain, I'd love some anecdotes about how you juggled everything, too! It sounds like it's going to be a lot of work - how did you balance school, work, and everything else?