I completed this degree in about 24 months of full-time study. I had minimal coding experience when I started.
It is mostly self-study but there are instructors for every course. Most have Phd's but some just have their masters. Many told me they have worked in industry for 20-30 years. You can book basically unlimited appointments with the instructors to get guidance on the course material. I found the instructors were particularly helpful for code review during my project-based courses.
In terms of rigor of the cirriculum I'd say it was comprable to my previous humanities degree at a medicore Canadian brick and mortar university. Some classes were legit hard and others were a total joke. The difference with the WGU format is you can spend 1-2 weeks cramming for the joke classes to pass the exam and move on with your life.
I'm still looking for my first dev job after graduation in the fall so not totally sure if it was worth it. Seems like I learned more about DSA, databases, OOP and math than you do at a bootcamp. The web development component of the program is really weak so I have been self-studying a lot while I apply to jobs.
You could definitely learn everything in the program on your own. But I think the mix of getting the degree as a credential and benefitting from instructor feedback might make it worth it for some people depending on their situation.
Also if you are already an experienced developer I think you could do this program very quickly if you just want the piece of paper.
It might be hard if you do not have a work visa. If that is the case my understanding is the easiest way in is by getting a student visa. I know many people who have done this by enrolling in a Canadian college program. Does not have to be a degree just a 1 year diploma program or something. Then I have met several people who got their permenant resident visa pretty easily after graduating. Im not an expert on how it all works though you could Google Canadian student visas as a starting point or contact an immigration lawyer if you can afford it. If you do have a visa just start applying on Monster.ca, indeed.com, linkedin etc. Best of luck!
