Undergraduate Computer Science Degree

I'm going to make a distinction between being a Computer Science major in undergrad (this section) versus majoring in something else and then doing a Master's or second Bachelor's.

If you're in high school, and want to become a software engineer, the easiest way is to go attend a well respected undergraduate college and major in Computer Science. This is the standard path nowadays. In this, you'll take a mix of theoretical Computer Science, math, programming, and science courses. In addition, because it's undergrad, you might also get the opportunity to take some liberal arts courses to round out your education.

Average CS majors per unit are double what they were at the peak of the dotcom bubble, so competition is fierce. However, there's a well-oiled pipeline and infrastructure to get smart CS majors into jobs. Much of recruitment happens in this early stage, especially at the internship level. Getting a summer internship gets you a chance at landing a full time software engineering return offer, so if you can major in CS in college, try to do it.

With that said, you're probably not reading this article if you're in this position, so let's explore some non-traditional paths that I've tried.