My question to the subreddit, if you have graduated from Algonquin do you find your career or options worthwhile?
If you're going into government then it doesn't matter. You have a degree and having the 2 year programmer or 3 year CS Engineer will carry you to the top of the ladder. Federal Government doesn't discriminate.
If you graduated from Uottawa or Carleton, was the 4-year degree worth it over the two year diploma?
I feel like no one can give you an answer to this as nobody would have been in both. I took the 3 year CS at Algonquin. It will give you a better foundation over the 2 year but there's a whole extra year and a few of the classes are going to challenge you more (caveat being there's dogshit filler classes as well). Tack on an extra year because you realllly should be shooting for co-op placements. Have a goal in mind as well, don't wing it. As for job prospects, you can get anything in Ottawa with either educations. Degrees are weighted heavier than diplomas. Algonquin is respected in Ottawa (IMO viewed similarly to degrees here), though, I'd assume a degree will carry more weight outside the city. Your absolute best option is to go to Carelton, get an 85%+ average, transfer to Waterloo (or apply if you have the grades) and shoot for valley coop positions (though, heard ageism is a thing for these guys. Do you look young? Regardless, waterloo is top rated CS universities in the world). No best answer here, what is it you want and shoot for it.
I am new in town, so I am unsure about the tech landscape here, are there any non-profits or things I can do in Ottawa that can teach me some real-world applications in exchange for some coding work?
There's open source projects online on github to play around with that have newbie rated tickets for new comers, quick google search should find it. Some people are able to learn in their own time through self study but honestly I got some great foundation skills from school. Meetup for local IRL groups.
I would be 29 when graduating (yikes)
My class started at 200 students and went down to 15-20 graduating. Of those 15 about half were 25+. Age doesn't matter, you're shooting for a career to carry you for the next 25-30 years.
tl;dr: