Software Engineering

The movement toward the cloud and IoT has led to new, interesting and rapidly growing applications for software engineering.  Stay on top of industry trends with a real-world curriculum that is refreshed regularly through rigorous review by an advisory board of software engineer industry leaders. Your coursework is immediately applicable to your professional work in designing, developing, validating and maintaining software systems.  In small classes with no more than 20 students, you will learn to build software solutions using different best practices, languages, technologies and life cycle approaches. Brandeis University is consistently ranked as a top national university by U.S. News & World Report, so you can be confident that you have earned a degree from one of the best universities in the country. The program will equip you to: Apply software engineering best practices to design, develop, operate and maintain software systems. Build software solutions using different technologies, architects and life-cycle approaches in the context of different organizational structures, with demonstrated programming expertise in Java. Collaborate and communicate with team members and other stakeholders to achieve software development project goals. The 30-credit part-time, online program has six required courses and four electives.

Those applying to the Software Engineering program should meet the following criteria:

• Introduction to a programming language (Java, C++, C), AND
• Introduction to Software Engineering  - topics covered should include exposure to concepts that will be further explored in Software Development Methodologies (refer to that course description). Broad coverage of practices employed to build software effectively, including techniques applicable at each phase of the development life cycle from requirements through testing and delivery, AND
• Introduction to Data Structures (also called Algorithms) - topics covered  should include variables, operators, expressions, I/O statements, conditionals, loops, arrays, pointers, abstract data types (lists, stacks, queues, trees), common algorithms (sorting, searching, etc.), OR
• Equivalent work experience which covers topics listed.

The 30-credit Software Engineering program has six required courses and four electives. Required courses provide students with a focused education surrounding fundamental topics in the field, while electives build upon specific professional skillsets and allow students to enrich and round out their studies.

Sample Spring 2020 curriculum

Please note that available courses are subject to change. Students without programming experience should complete RSEG 102: Software Development in Java before RSEG 105: Expert Software Development in Java.

Required courses

• Expert Software Development in Java
• Object-oriented Design with UML
• Software Development Methodologies
• Release Control and Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (DevOps)
• Software Testing Techniques
• Software Engineering Studio

Sample electives

• Software Development in Java
• Mobile Applications and Responsive Web Design
• Software Development in C++
• Functional Programming with Java and Scala
• Python Programming

View a complete list of program requirements.

View tuition and financing options. 

Software engineers enjoy profound flexibility in the global job market, finding opportunities in banking, health care, insurance, defense, finance, education and countless other industries that use computing technology in its endeavors.

Our students work or have worked at prestigious organizations such as:

• Bose Corporation
• Computer Sciences Corporation
• EMC
• General Dynamics
• Phillips
• Raytheon
• United States Military

Software Engineering students often hold job titles such as:

• Director of Performance Engineering
• Engineering Manager
• IT Manager
• Lead Systems Analyst
• Market Solutions Manager
• Section Manager
• Senior Business Analyst
• Senior Software Engineer
• Senior Support Escalation Engineering
• Software Engineering Leader
• Software Engineer
• Software QA Advisor
• Software System Engineer
• Senior Web Developer/Architect
• Systems Engineer
• Systems Specialist

The program is 75% male and 25% female.

1,026 students have graduated since the program launched in 1997.

28 students are currently working towards this degree.

"When I was a Biologist interested in switching careers, I investigated several programs. I really liked what Brandeis had to offer, but I was terrified at the prospect of taking a class named Expert Software Development in Java with seasoned professionals. I decided to give it a try anyway, and was happy to learn that I could do it! A decade later, and I still love what I do and I am thankful that Brandeis offered an easily accessible program that opened my future."

— Ryan Casillo '04
Senior Director of Software Engineering
HighRes Biosolutions

Our Software Engineering faculty understand the challenges of modern industry. Whether they’re delivering IT solutions to leading global companies or managing complex computer systems, they structure their GPS curriculum to draw on real-world expertise and connections that ultimately help our students advance their career goals. Here is a sampling of our Software Engineering faculty:

• Ian Rifkin currently works as the Director of Data and Systems Integration at Brandeis University within the office of Information Technology Services (ITS) where he architects and implements the data warehouse, the Identity Management system, and various Web technologies and applications using current tools and standards. He primarily works in LAMP environments (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP). His undergraduate degree in Anthropology and Internet Studies focused on how people interact online. Online communities has continued to be an area of interest for Ian and he has spoken at a few conferences on the subject. Ian was able to hone his technology and project management skills through graduate study culminating in his MS in Information Technology Management.
• Ari Davidow, PMP, CSM, focuses on IT project management ranging from Cloud-based infrastructure to web/software development.
• Vitaly Yurik, Ph.D., has more than two decades of software development and teaching experience. During the past 15 years he has been developing Java applications on both client and server sides. He has been a key developer, team lead, and architect on a wide range of projects that include e-commerce applications, e-business applications, the WebLogic application server, financial web and enterprise applications. He has developed and taught numerous courses for GPS since its inception in 1997.

Visit the Rabb School faculty directory for a full list of Brandeis GPS faculty.