According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), software developers are among the highest paid professionals in the modern workforce with a median salary of $124,200 (2022). Furthermore, the BLS estimates that the number of software developer jobs will grow exceedingly rapidly (25%) from 2022 - 2032.
However, traditional post-secondary institutions are currently failing to meet this need. Computer Science programs have the highest rate of attrition among all undergraduate programs, and most programs at public institutions are already at capacity. Additionally, many liberal arts institutions can not even offer Computer Science to their students. If they do, it is often not robust enough to lead to job placement in tech-focused fields. With students increasingly turning to self-study and coding bootcamps, higher education institutions must find a way to prepare students for an ever more technology-focused workforce in order to remain competitive.
Our CS major is intended to prepare students for a job as a Software Developer, a Web Developer, a Technical Project / Program Manager, and a variety of other technical roles. It was designed with the specific intent of producing graduates with vital skills while reducing the attrition rate among students with an interest in Computer Science.
We conducted interviews with over 20 Fortune 500 employers, numerous technology professionals, and several academics - some of whom are listed below in our contributors section - to identify the key problems in a modern Computer Science education. We identified three major issues:
This curriculum addresses the above issues in a variety of ways. First, it provides students with the gentlest possible introduction to Computer Science and Programming principles. Second, it strips unnecessary higher-level math classes that often serve as “weed out” courses in a traditional Computer Science major and are not actually applicable to virtually any jobs in Computer Science fields. Third, it heavily employs hands-on, project-based learning: every course (or course series) will require students to build an application or other projects that showcase their learnings.
Our curriculum was developed by Dr. Charles Severance of the University of Michigan. Dr Severance is one of the world’s foremost computer science educators. He teaches 10 wildly popular MOOCs that graduate over 1,000 students a week worldwide, and his philosophy - that Computer Science education needs to be more readily accessible - fundamentally shaped how our CS major was developed. In addition, Dr. Severance was instrumental in turning industry feedback into learning objectives for many of our courses. Our curriculum is heavily based on his Python for Everyone series and features significant contributions from other noted academics and industry professionals listed below.
This Computer Science major is intended to provide students with a working knowledge of key topics in technology including Web Development, Application Development, and more. The Computer Science Core (CSC) classes, along with additional math courses - as desired - form a minor in CS.
Dr. Charles Severance, University of Michigan - Dr. Charles Severance holds a PhD in Computer Science from Michigan State University. He is the former Executive Director of the Sakai Foundation, and one of the world’s leading online CS educators. His contributions and curriculum form the basis of our programming curriculum.
Mala Chandra - Mala Chandra developed multiple core Java technologies, including J2EE, J2ME and Java Beans. In 2004, she was named one of the 25 most influential women in the development of the internet. She has developed courses in gamification, social media and other subjects for the University of Washington.
Alexey Malashkevich - Alexey is a highly respected engineer and engineering manager with strong experience in building cloud-based financial technology systems. His skill in building engineering teams gives him particular insight into the skills most valuable in today’s technology workforce. Furthermore his expertise in cloud applications was valuable in verifying learning outcomes from cloud computing classes. Alexey is the former CEO of Agile Code - a software development firm - and has 20 years of experience bringing software products to market.