Is It Possible to Enter a Software Engineering Career with a Statistics and Computer Science Degree from UIUC?

Imagine you hold a degree in Statistics and Computer Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and you're eager to pursue a career in software engineering. Is it feasible? The answer is a resounding yes!

Understanding the Majors at Illinois

The University of Illinois offers seventeen different computer science majors, but as you might have guessed, not all of these are separate from each other. In fact, many of them are joint with another department. The core curriculum for all these majors is remarkably similar, focusing on the foundational aspects of computer science.

The differences lie primarily in the upper-division electives. However, this variation in majors does not significantly impact entry into the software engineering job market. Graduates from Engineering CS are the only ones who might face some additional scrutiny due to the ABET-accredited requirement, but even for them, the job market remains vast and welcoming.

Job Market Data

To provide concrete evidence, let's take a look at the actual data collected from recent graduates of UIUC.

Statistics and Computer Science (StatsCS) Graduates

A survey conducted by the University of Illinois highlights the career outcomes of their StatsCS graduates. For those graduating from May 2018 onwards, the response rate was just under 60%. Among those, a significant number pursued further education, with about 41% continuing to graduate school, and 58% securing full-time positions. Importantly, the most common job title among these graduates was software engineer, chosen by a huge margin. The most frequent employers included tech giants like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, with the median starting salary reported at $121,500.

Engineering Computer Science (Engineering CS) Graduates

For Engineering CS graduates, the trend was somewhat similar. The response rate was again around 60%, and the outcomes were comparable. About 21% pursued graduate studies, 76% secured full-time positions, with 1.5% still seeking employment. The top job titles also included software engineer, with others being software developer and software developer engineer. Major employers were the same large tech companies, along with a surprise inclusion of CapitalOne. The median starting salary for these graduates was $110,000, slightly lower than their StatsCS counterparts.

Conclusion

It is clear from the data that graduates of both Statistics and Computer Science and Engineering Computer Science at the University of Illinois have comparable job outcomes in the software engineering field. On average, Engineering CS graduates tend to start with slightly lower salaries, which may be attributed to the current trend where data science and machine learning are given more weight due to their popularity.

In essence, a degree in Statistics and Computer Science from UIUC is a valuable credential that opens doors to a thriving career in software engineering. Whether you're a StatsCS or an Engineering CS graduate, the job market welcomes you warmly.