For Students

Career Prospects

Jobs in computing and information technology are in high demand and offer high job satisfaction. Students with a degree in computer science are qualified to pursue a career in a wide variety of computing careers, dealing with software development or system design and analysis. CNN’s Money and PayScale.com ranked the “Best Jobs in America“, and three different computing jobs appear in the top ten: “Software Architect” at number 3, “Database Administrator” at number 5, and “Software Developer” at number 9 (computing careers took the number 1 spot in 2009, 2010, and 2011). While the Greensboro area is not a leading tech industry region, there are jobs to be found in the area, and even greater prospects are found nearby in the Research Triangle Park and Charlotte areas. For students willing to get out and move to areas of the country with particularly strong computing industry, such as Washington DC, Boston, or Silicon Valley, very attractive jobs are available.

There are some excellent resources on the Internet for learning about career prospects in IT and computing fields. The following are particularly good:

Salary Information

Our graduates do not generally report back to us on the salary they are making after graduation, but we can provide some information on salary and job prospects from two highly-respected national sources: The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook. Keep in mind that these are national averages, and local Greensboro averages tend to be lower (although the cost of living is also significantly less than California!).

Starting Salary

One of the first questions our students ask when thinking about life after graduation is “How much am I going to make?” According to NACE’s 2017 survey, of all majors “bachelor’s degree graduates who majored in the various computer science fields received the highest average starting salaries for the Class of 2016,” with an average starting salary of $78,199 (the executive summary of this report is available from NACE). The average starting salary for master’s degree recipients in “Computer and information sciences and support services” (this includes fields other than computer science) was $81,619. While we don’t track these numbers for UNCG graduates, our “feel” is that job offers in the Greensboro area are roughly $15,000 lower than the national average at both levels.

Mid-Career Salary

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has a wealth of information about different careers, including job outlooks, typical salaries, educational and training required, typical job functions, etc. Listed below are the 8 occupations that BLS reports and are common for computer science graduates. The link will take you directly to the BLS web site for detailed information on that job, and the average salary listed below is from the December 2015 Occupational Outlook Handbook (note that these are averaged over all salaries – they are not starting salaries of fresh graduates!):

Job Title 2016 Median Salary
Software Developers $102,280
Computer Systems Analysts $87,220
Information Security Analysts $92,600
Web Developers (only an Associate’s Degree is required) $66,130
Computer Network Architects $101,210
Database Administrators $84,950
Computer Programmer $79,840
Network and Computer Systems Administrators $79,700

Where are the Computer Scientists?

At first glance, something seems to be missing in the table above. The degree is “Computer Science”, so where is the job title of “Computer Scientist”? Like most fields of study (including Biology, Mathematics, Physics), an undergraduate or master’s degree is designed to educate a student in the scientific foundations of the field, and the job pursued by someone with a B.S. or M.S. degree is generally considered an application of the science, and not a practitioner of the science. The BLS publication does report on the job title of Computer and Information Research Scientist, and points out that “A Ph.D. … is required for most computer and information research scientist jobs.” While we don’t offer a Ph.D. in Computer Science at UNCG, we certainly prepare students for further study in a doctoral program. BLS reports that 2016 median annual wages of computer and information research scientists was $111,840.

Other Resources and References

The following links to external sites provide more information about the job market for computer science majors.

Jobs Held by Graduates

  • Amazon, Software Developer
  • Amazone Web Services, Senior Technical Product Manager
  • APEX Analytix LLC, Developer
  • Apple, DevOps Engineer
  • ATT, Information Management Specialist
  • Bellomy Research, Software Developer
  • Ciba-Geigy Corporation, R&D Information Center Analyst
  • Datawatch, Software Developer
  • Dell, Program Manager
  • Department of Defense, Computer Scientist
  • Deutsche Bank, Associate Software Engineer
  • DiDi, Software Development Engineer
  • Digital Equipment Company, Software Specialist
  • Dixon Hughes, Manager of Web Services
  • Duke Power Company, Field Engineer/Engineer Associate
  • The Fresh Market, Software Developer
  • Fidelity Investments, Software Developer
  • General Electric Company, Senior Project Engineer
  • Gilbarco Veeder-Root, Software Quality Assurance Engineer
  • Greensboro News and Record, Systems Administrator
  • IBM, Staff Systems Analyst
  • JP Morgan Chase, Service Delivery Analyst
  • Lenovo, Business Analyst
  • Mastercard, Reliability Engineer
  • Medical Decision Logics, Software Engineer
  • Microsoft, Research Software Engineer
  • Microsoft Research Beijing, Program Manager
  • Miller Brewing Company, Senior System Support Analyst
  • NASA, Data Analyst
  • NetApp, Senior Network Engineer
  • NC State University, Operations and Systems Analyst
  • Novartis, R & D Information Center Analyst
  • Revature, Engineer
  • Science Applications International, Software Systems Analyst
  • Sensus, Software Engineer
  • Syngenta, Software Specialist
  • Teleflex, Programmer
  • Tencarva Machinery, System Administrator
  • Total Computer Solutions, Network Engineer
  • U S Air Force, Communications Officer
  • University of NC, Asheville, Academic Computing Consultant
  • University of NC, Greensboro, UNIX (TM) Systems Support
  • University of NC, Greensboro, College of Arts and Sciences, Systems Administrator
  • V F Corporation, Senior Analyst
  • Vanguard (Investments), Programmer
  • Vanguard Cellular Systems, Inc., Programmer
  • Xtern Software, Inc., Software Developer