Making the Most of Your Computer Science Degree [CAREER GUIDE]

If you hold a college degree in computer science, congratulations! You’ve earned a degree in one of the most challenging educational fields. Computer science was the 19th most popular college degree in 2019, making up an estimated 2.06 million employees in the workforce.

A Promising Career Path

With a promising future and a 22% projected annual growth rate over the next decade, a computer science degree places you in a highly desirable technical field. Whether you’re a researcher, software engineer, or graduate student, computer science also offers a great quality of life regarding work-life balance, salary, and job satisfaction. In “The Best Computer Science Degrees in 2022,” computer and information research scientists and information systems managers saw the highest pay, while cloud engineers, AI research scientists, data scientists, and mobile app developers topped the list overall.

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Computer science is also among the highest-paid majors overall; the average entry-level salary is $75,100, and that rapidly grows to a mid-level average career salary of $123,400. With strong pay, positive work-life balance, promising career growth, and tons of open job opportunities, computer science consistently ranks as one of the happiest majors.

How to Advance Your Computer Science Career

However, statistics and positive projections alone don’t make a successful career. Like any other field, building a professional life in computer science takes dedication, planning, and hard work. Here are some tips on how to advance your computer science career:

•   Consider a master’s program — the number of jobs requiring a master’s degree is expected to grow 16% by 2030.
•   Take advantage of as many on-the-job training opportunities as possible.
•   Utilize remote learning opportunities.
•   Find a mentor.
•   Actively document your work, research projects, publications, and extracurricular activities.

Your Free Guide to Advancing Your Computer Science Career

For a more in-depth analysis and key insights from leaders from industry and academia, download IEEE’s free guide, “Making the Most out of Your Computer Science Degree,” which includes more details on mapping a career path, goal-setting, finding a mentor, portfolio must-haves, and resources to develop both your hard and soft skills.