Software Engineering Education During the 21 st Century

Software Engineering Education During the 21 st Century Dick B. Simmons, Ph. D, P. E. Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843 -3112 simmons@cs. tamu. edu

ABET Accredited Programs in 2004 • • Computer Science Computer Engineering Software Engineering Information Systems 187 154 4 7

Students Saying NO to Computer Science in USA • MIT EE&CS students – 385 – 240 – 200 in in in 2002 2003 2004 • Rutgers – CS Dept enrollment thousands less than peak of 6, 500 • CMU CS Dept. – 3, 200 applicants in 2001 – 2, 000 applicants in 2004 • U CA at Berkley CS Majors – 240 in Spring 2003 – 226 in Spring 2004 • Stanford CS undergrad majors – 171 in 2000 -2001 – 118 in 2003 -2004

Outlook for Software Engineering Jobs • Software Engineering jobs have been in demand since the 1968 NATO Conference that expressed need for Software Engineers • US Bureau of Labor Statistics says Software Engineering jobs will be among the 10 fastest growing occupations through 2012 • Help wanted adds are looking for Software Engineers

USA Jobs • CS jobs in the US are being outsourced off shore to India and China. – Middle of the Software Life Cycle (SLC) – Coding – Unit and Integration testing • SE jobs are remaining in the US – Upstream SLC – Downstream SLC

Software Development Paradigm is changing • Every student will own a client computer • Every student will have access to the Internet • Servers will be available to students with no need to physically be on campus • The Demand for Software Engineers will increase • The Demand for Computer Science professionals will decrease

SE Education Trends for the 21 st Century • Centers of SE excellence should be created to support use of leading edge software tools. These centers should support both proprietary and open systems software that is interoperable. • Training courses on use of software tools should be available to students on classroom web site • SE courses should be taught by synchronous and asynchronous distance learning where tenure track faculty at universities and adjunct professors from industry creates courses. • Global software development methodology should be emphasized that encourages access to the most skilled labor at the least cost.

SE Education Trends for the 21 st Century (Continued) • Software best practices should be encouraged. • Continuous software process improvement should be encouraged. • All SE courses should be made available via Internet web based distance leaning. • CASE Tools that supports global software development should be provided. • SE Certificate and Software Engineering Professional Licensing programs should be encouraged.