Communications of the ACM
Navigate the Booming Computer Science Market
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Computer science students with bachelor's or master's degrees are in demand now and are expected to be for the next decade. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be an estimated 1.8 million new IT jobs by 2018, a 22% jump from today's market. Nearly a decade after the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, the rise of cloud computing, mobile devices, and online social media is fueling a new wave of demand for IT professionals. According to the heads of computer science departments across the country, the job prospects for young computing professionals, especially new graduates, are excellent.
For prospective computer science students, the downside to this employment surge is the resulting increase in applicants, which will likely create tougher admissions standards at CS programs nationwide. For some undergraduate computer science programs, enrollment has increased by as much as 40%. At others, extra sessions of introductory classes are being added in anticipation of a new influx of computer science students. To navigate the increasingly competitive computer science admissions process, it's integral that students focus on honing their mathematical acumen by taking advanced classes.
Taking part in tech-centric extracurricular activities could help your chances as well. Even if there aren't computing courses in the high school — and in many places there are not — students can look for a computing club; a robotics competition; or a Web design project to gain extra practice. Once students get past the admissions hurdle, their career prospects are typically bright. Not only are students finding jobs at above-average rates, they're among the best paid out of college, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Computer science majors in the class of 2011 garnered an average starting salary of $63,017, second only to chemical engineers who make $66,886, on average.
From U.S. News & World Report
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