Computer Science Careers
As a computer science major, you will have the opportunity to work as a software developer who designs, implements, tests and maintains computer software. You can also work as an information technology specialist who deploys and manages information technology, including computer systems, computer networks, database systems and web technologies. According to PayScale, the average computer scientist salary is over $78,000.
Clarkson has a great relationship with IBM, the leading employer of computer science graduates. Some of our best computer science majors go on to work at places like Google. Recent graduates have also been hired by cyber security firms, among other places, such as:
- Assured Information Security
- CACI
- Corning Inc.
- Epic
- Go Aviation
- Google, Inc.
- Gracenote, Inc.
- IBM
- Inficon
- Infosys Limited
- Lockheed Martin
- U.S. Air Force
- Vermont Information Processing
Computer Science Curriculum & Academic Options
The computer science undergraduate bachelor's degree program consists of 46 credit hours out of the total 120 credit hours. This leaves flexibility for computer science majors to choose a minor or pursue other interests while in school. Computer science majors take courses such as:
- Business Intelligence and Data Analytics
- Software Design and Development
- Parallel Programming
- Artificial Intelligence
- Advanced Programming Concepts in Java
- Programming Languages
- Mixed Reality
- Operating Systems
- Cryptography
- Computer and Network Security
- Quantum Information and Computation
- Mobile Robotics and Human-Machine Interaction
- Blockchain Technologies
The Department of Computer Science also offers a minor in Computer Science, which is open to a vast majority of students at Clarkson. Computer Science majors have the opportunity to explore minors that will complement the computer science bachelor's degree. View our recommendations below or learn more about all of Clarkson's minors, concentrations and professional advising tracks.
Internships & Co-ops
The vast majority of Clarkson computer science majors get an internship or co-op while they are at Clarkson. In fact, 86 percent of the students who have graduated in the past three years obtained internships while at Clarkson. Almost all of the companies that hire computer science students also have co-ops and internships available for you. That means there is a good likelihood that you can turn your internship into a career.
The internship and co-op opportunities you can pursue exist at companies such as:
- Amazon
- Anderson Consulting
- AOL
- APPLIX Corp.
- Catholic University of America
- CBSI
- Dealer.com
- General Electric
- George Mason University
- Lockheed Martin
- Microsoft
- Mozilla
- National Security Agency
- PROXICOM
- Sandia National Lab
- Syracuse Research Corp.
- U.S. Air Force
- VMWare
Research Opportunities
All computer science professors are actively involved in research and have students work with them. As a computer science major, you will have the opportunity to pursue research in areas such as cyber security, computer networks, quantum computing, computational complexity, artificial intelligence, formal software verification, computer vision, computer graphics and others.