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Bachelor of Engineering in Software Engineering Overview

Software Engineering Program

  • 40 Seats to fill
  • Uvic electrical 2nd year transfer: not so successful, cancelled
  • Only offering first year transfer now (common curriculum) certificate. Common curriculum first year in BC. (UBC, SFU, UBCO, UVic, BCIT soon)
  • Transfer and Software Engineer different cohorts because they have different requirements.
  • Transferring has different requirements. UBC/UBCO has higher requirements (2 terms) than UVic (allows to take more than 2 terms to complete the 10 courses)

Software new as of 2018

  • Only 5 students first year; came from transfer program
  • Our degree is not accredited until the 5th year
  • 800 students to one professor in Western
  • 40 students to one professor at TRU
  • Increasing applications every year, but still not enough
  • Comp Science vs Software Engineering: Write code vs design entire new programs
    • Completely different products
    • Software Engineering: Problem Solver/Applied Scientist: Analyze problem and design solution;  within this they also develop etc. So comp sci plus solving problems and solution design
    • Computer Science: Developer
    • Software engineers get a professional license co-op. Comp Sci does not get a professional license
    • Emad: 96k without license out of grad; 180k with license year later
    • License means you're part of a professional group, can provide problem solving to public, and hold insurance.

 

Demand means starting wage soon will be 125k (allegedly)

 

Do we offer anything that other software engineering programs don't, aside from small class sizes?

  • Only Software Engineering program in the interior. Only us and UVic (on coast) offer Software Engineering in BC.
  • 14 schools in Canada that offer software engineering
  • Major difference for us: all of our courses have 2 hour labs so we give way more hands on learning
    • All other universities have some labs but not nearly as many as us. They focus on research, we focus on hands on research and employability. Tons of software's that students are introduced to. None of the other universities have commercial licenses for all of the ones that we do.
    • Our students get exposure to way more software's that may be the difference between getting jobs. Exposure to all of these software's on a resume make a huge difference.
    • One of our students got a 90k job offer after co-op before she graduated
  • Our professors teach our labs, not just handed off to TA's like in larger universities
  • Way more face to face time with professors
  • Go into depth with Software design instead of just scratching the surface on design.
  • Office hours for one-on-one time with professor
  • You have to do something different to get a different salary. Aka small school with more lab hours.
  • Not 5 students sitting around one computer like larger schools, each student has their own computer to work on the software.
  • Open door policy and increased student support
  • Restricted labs for software engineering students only: Always a computer available for students.

 Kammi Madsen: Engineering advisor and Accreditation Coordinator: Student support, marketing, recruiting, advising and scheduling students.

Faheem Ahmed & Emad Mohammed

Victoria: Program assist

(Margo's notes from Software Engineering Presentation Wednesday, December 8, 2021)