The Master of Software Engineering (MSE) Professional Programs offers flexible graduate certificates for busy professionals seeking to advance their skills and knowledge. The certificates allow working professionals to gain expertise through self-paced online courses, without the extended commitment required for a master's degree. The focused certificates provide valuable training in areas like software architecture, project management, agile methods, cloud computing, and other high-demand subjects. Choose to complete individual certificates, or stack multiple certificates together to earn an MSE degree. The choice is yours.
The certificates also present an attractive option for corporate sponsorship of employees' training and development. Companies can select targeted certificates to align with the specific skills needed for software engineering roles. Whether pursuing standalone certificates or the full degree, students benefit from the MSE program's industry-relevant curriculum and renowned faculty. The graduate certificates deliver the perfect option for today's working software professionals to skill up and stay competitive.
MSE Certificate in Software Architecture
Learning Objective
Designed for practitioners who want to be able to analyze software requirements from a software architecture perspective and apply good software design principles, patterns, and tactics to build robust, scalable and resilient software.
Plan of Study
- 17-635 Software Architecture (Spring)
- 17-647 Engineering Data Intensive Scalable Systems (Spring)
- 17-625 API Design (Fall)
- 17-695 Design Patterns (Fall)
Four 6-unit courses. 24 total units.
Key takeaways
- Identify software design problems and solve them using appropriate design patterns.
- Analyze systemic software architectural concerns, apply architectural patterns and tactics to solve systemic concerns.
- Use attribute driven design methods to architect the software and analyze the trade-offs.
- Learn to document the software architecture for different stakeholders.
- Compare and use different API styles to build well designed APIs
Prerequisite Knowledge
Familiarity with a programming language such as C++, Java, Python etc. and a basic knowledge about software design techniques.
MSE Certificate in Software Product Management
Learning Objectives
To develop the business acumen needed to create, justify and manage software solutions to business and user problems.
Knowledge and Skills: Problem analysis, value analysis, business case creation, requirements analysis, and project management
Plan of Study
- 17-619 Product Management Essentials I (Spring)
- 17-629 Product Management Essentials II (Spring)
- 17-622 Agile Project Management (Fall)
- 17-626 Requirements for Information Systems or
17-627 Requirements for Embedded Systems (Fall)
Four 6-unit courses. 24 total units.
Key takeaways
- Define business and user problems.
- Product/solution ideation
- Elicit and analyze requirements.
- Determine the value of a solution to its stakeholders.
- Align software decisions with business strategies.
- Agile methods for iterative, collaborative software development.
Prerequisite Knowledge
A background in computer science and some understanding of software development life cycles.
MSE Certificate in Software Engineering Management
Learning Objective
To be able to manage software engineering projects using popular software project management methods, estimate and plan work. Understand DevOps concepts to effectively manage and co-ordinate software engineering activities.
Knowledge and Skills: Software project management and DevOps
Plan of Study
- 17-632 Software Project Management (Spring)
- 17-642 Software Management Theory (Spring)
- 17-636 DevOps Engineering (Summer)
Two 6-unit courses, one 12-unit course. 24 total units.
Key takeaways
- Theories of leadership, motivation, and team dynamics
- Common organizational structures, coordination mechanisms
- Create planning artifacts such as work breakdown structures, milestone plans, activity plans, estimates, risk registers and earned value charts.
- Basic DevOps practices, deployment pipeline and associated tools.
Prerequisite Knowledge
Exposure to group software development, undergraduate course in Software Engineering. Basic business acumen is a valuable start, experience is an invaluable asset.