go to university or learn .net technology?

Question

Hi,
I worked as a .net programmer for more than 5.5 years in my own country.
I will work in usa starting from July,2010. This job does not belong to IT field. I want to be employed as a .net programmer again in the future. So I need to take my leisure time to upgrade my computer knowledge. I have two ways to do that.
One way is that I will take my leisure two or three years to go to university for achieving a master degree majoring in computer science.
Another way is that I will take my leisure one year to finish learning these technology: C#,ADO.NET,Windows Forms,ASP.NET,ASP.NET MVC,ASP.NET MVC2,Javascript,JQuery,ASP.NET Ajax,LINQ,XML/XPATH/XSLT,CSS/HTML/XHTML/DHTML,Photoshop/Flash/Dreamweaver,SQL,Data Structure. (Is one year enough? )

Which way is smarter? May you give me some suggestion?

Thanks.

Li · Answer

Thank you for your answer.

Bruce Roeser · Answer

Well, it depends on whether the job you seek is more interested in some piece of paper coming from a school or if they're really interested in your demonstrated ability and knowledge.

I simply study the technology on my own. I buy all my professional books and equipment and learn at my pace. I've done it that way for 35 years and it has served me well. I never got a formal degree myself. 35 years of experience tends to speak for itself. If you've already got 5.5 years of experience with .Net then you'll probably do well if you simply stay on top of the latest technology and study on your own. It will be less expensive than paying a school that exists mainly to make money.

My 2-cents.

-bruce

Mahesh Chand · Answer

I think it all depends on what can you do. Also depends on how much time you can spend. 1 year may not be enough to cover everything. One thing I would suggest is, be a good developer in one field then learning little bit of everything.
Some companies require you to have a degree for a job. But I have seen many non-degree successful programmers.
Good luck!