Dopita 1

Marta Dopita
Dr. G. Jimmy Chen
CSIS 1030
April 26 2018
Top Five Careers for Computer Science Majors by Salary

Obtaining a computer science degree can open a wide range of doors for opportunity.

According to Loyola University Chicago and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ findings, “’computer

systems design and related services,’” are in the “top 3 growth industries” at “(38.3%) and the

“’top 6…specific occupations are network systems and data communications analysts, computer

software engineers, applications and computer systems analysts.’” They also found that

“computing-related jobs constitute 5 out of the 10 highest paid jobs from among the 30 fastest

growing jobs.” By earning a computer science degree fears of unemployment are minimal, and a

high-end salary is nearly inevitable. But this does not come without some increasing competition

as technology becomes more and more predominant in our everyday lives. Following are the top

5 positions based on salary a computer science major can get with a degree and experience.

(DOCS)

The fifth and lowest paying position that will be covered in this essay is a Network Architect with

the average salary range of $78,000-$156,000 per year. This position, however, cannot be filled as

an entry level position, it requires 5-10 years of experience and a bachelor’s degree as well as in

some cases, a master’s degree. A network architect, “design[s] and build[s] data communication

networks including local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) and Intranets.”

These types of skills are vital to large companies like Amazon or GoldmanSachs. (Tittel,

Study.com,“CollegeGrad”)

The fourth highest paying position that can be obtained from earning a computer science

degree is a Software Engineer. Software Engineers’ average salaries range from $61,000-$160,000
 Dopita 2
Marta Dopita
Dr. G. Jimmy Chen
CSIS 1030
April 26 2018
per year. A bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree may be required for this position as well as;

being licensed “to practice as a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.), supervised work experience in

engineering, passing a professional practice examination, and experience as a computer

programmer.” Software Engineers “analyze user needs and design, construct and maintain

computer applications software or systems to meet these needs.” Types of companies that hire

software engineers are T-mobile, Cadence Design Systems and Amazon. (“What Education…”,

Team, “What does…”)

The third position with the third highest paying salary is an Information Systems Security

Manager with a salary of $115,000-$160,000 per year. This position entails “coordinate[ing] and

execute[ing] security policies and controls” and “assess[ing] vulnerabilities with a company.” The

requirements for becoming an Information Systems Security Manager are a bachelor’s degree

(sometimes a master’s or doctorate degree), certifications that are optional, and “typically five or

more years in information security, computer, information science, or a related field.” This position

can be vital to government agencies, colleges, universities, hospitals and many other large

organizations. (Study.com)

The second position with the second highest average yearly salary range is an Applications

Development Manager that earns $86,000-$162,000 per year. The responsibilities entailed for this

position are being “…responsible for a team that monitors, analyzes, designs and develops a

company’s computer software applications. They are also usually in charge of maintaining,

supporting and upgrading existing systems and applications needed to keep the business running.”

In order to undertake such responsibility, the requirements to become an Applications

 Dopita 3
Marta Dopita
Dr. G. Jimmy Chen
CSIS 1030
April 26 2018
Development Manager are a “bachelor’s degree [and/or] master’s degree, four years of technical

experience and two years of supervisory experience.” The types of organizations that employ

Applications Development Managers are eBay, universities, state and federal government

agencies, Verizon and many, many more. (“Application…”, ”Application…”)

The fifth and highest paying position a computer science major can acquire is an

Applications Architect, which make an average range of $66,000-$183,000 per year. An

Applications Architect can also be called a Software Architect and a person in this position is

someone “…who designs the interaction between systems, imposes restrictions on the use of

platforms and tools…sets global standards shared between supervised systems. This ensures that

all solutions, usually composed of many infrastructure elements and software, works well with

each other.” The requirements for this position are a bachelor’s degree and in most cases ten to

twenty years of experience. An example of a few companies that need applications architects are

Randstad Technologies, SIMCO Electronics, Open Systems Technologies and several more.

(“What Degree…”, “Role…”)

Although these top five positions do have a high salary, and all require at least a bachelor’s

degree, they all require experience. These are also not the only positions available when obtaining

a computer science degree there are hundreds, if not, thousands of jobs for computer science

majors. Most of those positions come with handsome salaries and the ability to build experience.

As mentioned above, the highest paying positions require a great deal of experience, so with time

any of these positions may become available to any computer science major based on their drive

and their interests.

 Dopita 4
Marta Dopita
Dr. G. Jimmy Chen
CSIS 1030
April 26 2018

REFERENCES

“Application Development Manager Career and Salary – Florida Tech Online.” Florida Tech
Online, 12 June 2017, www.floridatechonline.com/blog/information-technology/application-
development-manager-career-and-salary/.

“Application Development Manager Jobs.” Jobs, www.indeed.com/q-Application-Development-

Manager-jobs.html.

“CollegeGrad.” Jobs, Career, Salary and Education Information - CollegeGrad.com,

collegegrad.com/careers/computer-network-architects.

DOCS (Department of Computer Science), “Loyola University Chicago.” Job Growth

Projections: Computer Science, Department Of,
www.luc.edu/cs/prospectiveundergradstransferstudents/jobgrowthprojections/.

Study.com, Study.com,
study.com/articles/Careers_in_Network_Architecture_Options_and_Requirements.html.

Study.com, Study.com,
study.com/articles/Be_an_Information_Systems_Security_Manager_Career_Roadmap.html.

Team, Glassdoor. “9 Companies Hiring Software Engineers.” Glassdoor Blog, 8 Aug. 2016,
www.glassdoor.com/blog/9-companies-hiring-software-engineers/.

Tittel, Ed, and Kim Lindros. “How to Become a Network Architect.” Tom's IT Pro, 22 Jan.
2018, www.tomsitpro.com/articles/how-to-become-networking-architect,1-1716.html.

“What Degree Do I Need to Be an Applications Architect?” DegreeQuery.com,

www.degreequery.com/what-degree-do-i-need-to-be-an-applications-architect/.

“What Does a Computer Software Engineer Do? Could You Give Me a Description of the
Field?” TryEngineering, 18 Sept. 2013, tryengineering.org/ask-expert/what-does-computer-
software-engineer-do-could-you-give-me-description-field.
 Dopita 5
Marta Dopita
Dr. G. Jimmy Chen
CSIS 1030
April 26 2018

“What Education Do You Need to Become a Software Engineers and

Designers?” StudentScholarships.org,
studentscholarships.org/careers_salary/7/education/software_engineers_and_designers.php#s
thash.wzv4xSGN.dpbs.

“Role of the Application Architect.” Technical Blog - Future Processing, 19 Jan. 2016,
www.future-processing.pl/blog/role-of-the-application-architect/.