I’m sitting in as a Proctor for the IEEEXtreme Programming Competition at West Virginia University’s Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering this morning. It is a 24 hour student competition sponsored by the International Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Association. Several students have chosen to spend their Friday night (started at 8 pm) and Saturday (ends at 8 pm) to solve computer science and programming problems to compete against teams across the globe. You may be asking me now, so what?
Think about your life and ask yourself who has challenged you: a family member? a teacher? an employer? What about you? Do you challenge yourself? These students had no one individual except themselves to challenge them to stay awake for 24 hours and test their programming and problem solving abilities against their global peers. Why, when others choose to sleep or party or do whatever you do at 3 AM! on a Saturday morning, would these few individuals choose to “Challenge Themselves”?
Choosing to “Challenge Yourself” by seeking an advanced career in Software Engineering at West Virginia University will benefit your future. How so? A recent article in US News and World Report provided some interesting facts. According to the 2012-2013 PayScale College Salary Report, computer engineering, applied mathematics and computer science are all among the top ten majors by salary potential. The report goes on to state that “as of May 2012 statistics from the BLS, the highest 25% of earners in applications software development made $113,280. The top 25% of systems software developers made $123,560 over the same time frame.” Does challenging yourself payoff? Certainly, however, financial gains are not everything and so what about enjoying your work? Some of the best employers to work for are those in the software engineering industry with four of the Top 10 Best Companies to Work for include Google, SAS, NetApp, and Ultimate Software, according to Fortune Magazine.
So what are you waiting for? Challenge Yourself! Apply for the WVU Master of Science in Software Engineering today.
Dale
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