The Gordon and Jill Bourns College of Engineering at California Baptist University is one of the few colleges in the United States offering a software engineering program, a major that contributes to careers in the world of computer and programming technology.
Since its foundation in the fall of 2013, the program has grown to 62 students and expanded to include the new Master of Science in Software Engineering for students who want to further develop their skills.
“The best part about it is that there are a lot of options,” said Jenna Cray, sophomore software engineering major. “It has a wide range of applicability.”
“(The program) tries to provide a variety of real-world experience,” said Dr. David Bishop, assistant professor of software engineering and chair of the computing software and data sciences department. “Software engineering is not a single-faceted field, it’s multifaceted.”
Students are given opportunities to actively participate in the classroom through projects, ultimately equipping them with more experience that they can transfer to a future job.
The application of software engineering in the classroom is achieved through interactive courses, such as the EGR432, Mobile Applications Development, course which features a semester-long project of having students publish a working Android application on the Google Play Store.
“By doing those types of hands-on projects and giving them real world experience they should be prepared to contribute to an employer when they graduate,” Bishop said.
Behind the scenes of every social network, website and computer program is a growing number of software engineers who help make it all possible.
