My sense is it happens to make HR departments' jobs easier, nothing more. I'm not saying that there's no value in a STEM degree, but there's this weird fixation on certifications in general that's grossly inaccurate. I certainly got the sense they were more competent in computer science by the end of it than some of of the CS bachelor-level graduates I've worked with.
I suspect by the end of it, which was years, they were probably comparable to someone with a comp sci bachelor's degree in their knowledge. It launched a new line of work that was pretty much all computer science and image processing. I know of someone who had history undergrad and grad degrees, for example, but who became heavily involved in computer science and imaging research because of some project involving imaging some artifacts or fragile records (I don't remember what, although it was in north/east africa). It always strikes me as strange to see all these postings to open STEM coursework, but then this idea that someone who is really bright who just didn't happen to major in a STEM program can't pick up a lot of STEM experience through non-coursework experiences. You can also learn math and computer science, or whatever "on the side" through research projects and work. Sure, you can learn writing and exposition on the side, but you'll learn it faster to a greater precision in good courses.
This is critically important, because in my experience it can work both ways. People do the same thing for learning animation, acting, music production, video production, etc. If I wanted to learn puppetry, I'd use YouTube to learn the basics, and then perhaps even document my progress through making videos of my own. Some of the best speakers of a foreign language that I know got so good by having a girlfriend who was native to the language that they wanted to learn. While I did do the Middlebury intensive program (which is hard, and the results were great), I improved the most when I actually went and lived in a country that spoke the language I wanted to improve at. I studied multiple languages, and while they are incredibly useful and absolutely worth learning, academia is not the place to do it. But spending dumb money to learn something niche that can be learned and practiced on one's own time is probably not a great use of time nor money. Now, are they worth learning? Of course they are, and I think they make us better human beings.
But they shouldn't cost a fortune to study, nor should they really be in a narrow results-focused academic environment. I'm 100% for the humanities, and majored in them myself. In fact, most things we learn outside of STEM in academia can be learned elsewhere - literature, languages, arts, etc. This honestly is the crux of the issue with higher education. >Not everything that we learn has to be learned in college.
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