The United States has fallen from producing a quarter of the world’s global output to less than one fifth, while nations like China and India have rapidly caught up. While there are many reasons for this trend, one major factor is the lack of innovation in computer science, due to lesser numbers of computer science students.
The Future Of Computing
In the next ten years, a million and a half jobs will need to be filled in the computer science industry. These may come from within the United States, but more likely will be filled by foreign workers. Between programmers, engineers, and administrators, the job growth in the computing industry is anywhere from twelve to thirty percent.
Financial Factors
Computer science is currently the highest-paid college degree. At the same time, employers say that they cannot find employees who have the computer skills needed to succeed in their workplace. This trend is expected to only get worse, with three times as many job openings as there are qualified persons to fit them. The end result is half a billion dollars on the table per year in salary.
Only one in four students in high school can take a computing class. 6 At the university level, only one in ten schools have computer-programming courses. Less than one in forty students graduate with a degree in computer science at the same time that there is a crucial labor shortage.5
To learn more about the “Why the US STEM Initiative Shouldn’t Overlook Computer Science”, created by New Jersey Institute of Technology, take a look at the infographic below.
NJIT Online Master of Science in Computer Science
via New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Online Masters Degree in Computer Science | STEM Infographic | Computer Science Online NJIT.