• "Computer software engineers are one of the occupations projected to grow the fastest and add the most new jobs over the 2006-16 decade."

• "Excellent job prospects are expected for applicants with at least bachelor’s degree in computer engineering or computer science and with practical work experience."
• "Computer software engineers must continually strive to acquire new skills in conjunction with the rapid changes that occur in computer technology".
• "Employment change. Employment of computer software engineers is projected to increase by 38 percent over the 2006 to 2016 period, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. This occupation will generate about 324,000 new jobs, over the projections decade, one of the largest employment increases of any occupation."
• Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition", "Computer Software Engineers" (emphasis added)

We encourage the following capabilities in software engineering because we think that these capabilities promote employability:

• Develop and demonstrate technical agility by developing capabilities in at least two technical areas.
• Understand your customer's/client's/employer's business, and orient your work around that business.
• Understand the architecture of the system you are developing or maintaining, including system testing.
• Communicate the right thing at the right time to the right people in a way that is appropriate to: your audience, your subject, and the time.

• "... science and engineering ..." - the areas that should be studied by "... best and brightest minds ...." (emphasis added)
• Mr. Gao Xiquing, President of China Investment Corporation.
• Manages over $200 billion dollars (US) in investments.
• Quoted from "Be Nice to the Countries that Lend You Money" by James Fallows, The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 302 no. 5, December 2008, pp. 62-65.
• "I foresee the following as the 10 strongest professions and industries over the coming decade and beyond: "
• "Engineering. It will take many years and a lot of effort to retool the United States's abandoned industrial base for twenty-first-century manufacturing. Engineering of all sorts-mechanical, electrical, computer science-will be needed to get the job done.
• Mr. Peter D. Schiff, President of Euro Pacific Capital Ind.
• Predicted the 2008 economic changes in early 2007.
• Quoted from The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets by Peter D. Schiff, The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 302 no. 5, December 2008, pp. 196-197.

Scott Ambler has written two very useful articles that can serve as guides to employability in an era of global outsourcing:

"Isn't That Special", and

"Chicken Little Was Right".

There is a dynamic software industry in the United States and elsewhere. Our goal is to help out students to be competitive participants in that industry.

See the Dynamic Evolving Curriculum page for some of the steps we are taking, planning, or considering.