Developing Software Engineering Leaders at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley

The Carnegie Mellon’s Silicon Valley Campus offers a master’s degree in Software Engineering, with technical and development management tracks, targeted at working software professionals in Silicon Valley. We believe the program to be unique in that it is entirely team-based and project-centered. Students learn by doing as they are coached just in time by faculty in the context of their work on authentic projects, and they are evaluated based on what they produce. In response to our interactions with an industry characterized by innovation and short project development timelines, the program evolved from one focused on “high ceremony” processes to one focused on agile software development methodologies. Student satisfaction is high: Eighty-seven percent of our alumni believe that the program has given them a competitive advantage with respect to their professional peers, and their promotion and salary histories bear out this belief.