CMU West Offers MS In Software Management

Carnegie Mellon West has launched a Master of Science (MS) program in Software Management.

Offered as a part-time program, the inter-disciplinary curriculum gives students a hands-on, team-oriented education. In its technical components, the program builds upon Carnegie Mellon’s software engineering curriculum. In its business and organizational components, however, Carnegie Mellon West breaks with tradition by giving students a broader perspective needed to collaborate with and lead global, distributed teams that are defining next-generation software organizations.

"Globalization and outsourcing are facts of life," said Martin Griss, associate dean of education at Carnegie Mellon West. "They're not good or bad. Our educational system simply has to recognize these facts and fold them into the curriculum."

While software engineering degree prepares graduates for positions as senior software engineers, architects, technical project leads, and software development managers, a software management degree is for students pursuing careers as program managers, product managers, directors of software development, and software executives. Over a six-semester (two-year) period, students in the software management program learn strategies for developing and delivering software products and services.

According to Carnegie Mellon West, among the features of its MS in Software Management degree are:

• Project- and simulation-based curriculum. The Carnegie Mellon West software management program simulates how students learn and work in an industry environment with learn-by-doing projects, case analyses, and industrial practica.
• Team orientation. Teamwork is fundamental to the program because the scope of all real software projects requires teamwork, and sharing work enables students and their teams to produce more authentic work products
• Contextual skills. Carnegie Mellon West's master's degree teaches technical expertise within the broader context of the software business itself. Consequently, marketing, finance, strategy, management and other business skills are highly stressed as are organizational skills, including negotiating, writing, presenting, and managing team dynamics.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 06:17 PM  Permalink