Job Prospects for Computer Science Graduates

Computer Science Employment Opportunities

Nowadays the field of Computer Technologies creates a large number of different career opportunities for young Computer Science and IT graduates. One of the reasons why this is so is that in the modern world computers are involved in practically everything we do i.e. they have become an inseparable part of our lives. We use infomation systems to communicate with each other, pay our bills, and run our private businesses. Furthermore, it is the advancement in this particular field that urges innovation and development in other important areas such as the physical sciences, engineering, medicine, and education. That is why having a computing degree is widely affirmed of providing an ideal combination of fundamental theoretical knowledge, problem solving techniques, and logical thinking skills that serves as a competitive advantage to students in their careers, without regard to their personal interests and the specific profession they might choose to pursue later in their lives.

Based on their nature, Computer Science jobs fall into three major categories: software development, information systems administration (e.g., databases, web science, computer networks, communications), and scientific computing (e.g., robotics, artificial intelligence, computer vision). Any of the disciplines that belong to those categories requires a great deal of creativity and develops the individual's capabilities in using computational theory for solving complex real-life problems. None of them is easy to master. Hence, it is no surprise that the jobs in the branch are among the highest paid and have the highest rates of employee satisfaction.

Pursuing a Career in Software Development

Software Development is the largest branch of Computer Science. It is also the one that provides the greatest number of employment opportunities for computing specialists and, therefore, the one the majority of Computer Science students join after garduation. While a bachelor's degree in the field is generally sufficient for entry into a career in this branch, more and more software professionals return to university in order to obtain a master's degree so that they can gain a competitve advantage in their search for better jobs.

Software Development refers to the design and implementation of computer software. Different software systems may be used for a variety of purposes, the most common of which are to serve the needs of a particular client/ business or some other set of potential users, perform specific actions to control the operation of computer hardware, or assist us with the various activities we perform in our daily routines.

Job prospects for software developers occur in a wide variety of settings including software companies of different size, computer services companies, large organizations and financial institutions of all kinds such as banks, industrial corporations, government structures, or health care institutions. The people who choose to go for a career in a field that belongs to this branch usually deal exclusively with subjects such as software engineering and programming in different computer languages. Yet, most of the sub-areas of software development also include aspects of web development, user interface design, information security, and computer networks.

Pursuing a Career in Informations Systems Administration

Information Systems are often defined as a "bridge" between Computer Science and the business world. Although their administration is referred to as the least technical-oriented and least theoretical branch of computing, it, like any other computing-related discipline, also needs data, procedures, hardware, and software to meet its main objective, which in its case is information gathering, storage, and analysis. In other words, if we want to be more specific, computer-based information systems represent networks of hardware and software that people and exclusively organizations use to collect, process, create, and distribute data of various nature.

There exist many different categories of information systems, and as new technologies are developed, their number increses even further. Some instances of such systems are: data warehouses, enterprise resourse planning systems, accounting systems, expert systems, and global and geographic information systems. All of them focus on the resolution of typical problems the business sector faces every day of its operation. What makes them real important, however, is the fact that they contribute a great deal to the improvement of management decision-making, which, on the other hand, is a process that takes place in any single organization regardless of its size.

In comparison to the job prospects for Computer Science graduates in the Software Development area, the employment opportunities in the Information Systems Administration or, as it is more often referred to, the IT branch are also pretty good. Usually a career in the IT industry is an ideal choice either for people that possess strong communication skills and specialized technical knowledge, or for such with an understanding of both information technology and business and management practices.

Pursuing a Career in Scientific Computing

Scientific Computing (or Computational Science) is a field in Computer Science that is focused on the use of computer technologies to analyse and solve complex scientific and engineering problems. In contrast to Information Systems Administration, it is related to a great extent to the subject of mathematics and studies the application of mathematical models, computer simulation, and information processing to other scientific disciplines such as physics, chemistry, or biology. Instances of variations in Scientific Computing are Computational Physics, Computational Biology, Computational Biomedicine, and Computational Finance.

Scientific Computing application programs usually model real-world changing conditions, such as weather, the motion of specific objects in a plane, automobile body distortions in a crash, or even the perimeter of the effected area as a result of the burst of an explosive device. Since such programs in general require massive amounts of complicated calculations and much operating memory, they are often executed on distributed computing platforms or supercomputers.

A career in Scientific Computing typicaly involves advanced graduate work to the Ph.D. level and an internship in a research university or an industrial research and development laboratory.