Technology, Data Analytics, Cyber Security

From software engineering and web or app development, to data science and analytics, these exponentially growing functions offer opportunities across a wide spectrum of industries and fields. Some examples of technical functional areas include cloud computing, mobile development, artificial intelligence and machine/deep learning, programming, product management, and user interaction and experience. Cyber security is also experiencing a surge in growth with technical opportunities in both the public and private sectors (e.g. government agencies, defense, aerospace, insurance, and banking) for specialists who can help battle cybercrime.

Finding Internships

Employers are seeking candidates with strong technical skills, which you may develop through your coursework or through independent learning projects. Larger “name brand” organizations often prefer candidates in their junior year, but many have freshmen and sophomore programs to introduce students to technology career paths.

Finding Jobs

For technical positions, employers seek candidates with a strong, proven technical skillset. Knowledge of operating systems and software or programming skills—for example, writing code in particular languages, is required and will be assessed in the interview process. Certain job functions (such as data science) often require specific skills. There are also many options to join technology companies in non-technical roles, such as marketing, human resources, and business development.

Graduate and Professional Programs

Deciding whether to pursue a research-based Ph.D. program versus a professional master’s degree depends on your ultimate goals. Graduate school is necessary for a research or academic career, though less so for general technology industry pathways. For fields like data science or cyber security, plan on pursuing a focused master’s or Ph.D. degree to learn specialized knowledge and abilities applicable to those fields.

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