CareerCast.com, a site to search for job opportunities by industry, function and location, has prepared an annual Jobs Rated report for almost three decades. Over those years, the workplace has evolved and changed dramatically, but one trend is clear: as the world becomes ever-more connected, quantitative and drenched in data, careers in computer science will increasingly take centre stage.
This year is no exception. Of the 10 best careers in the 2017 Jobs Rated report — assessed according to income, quality of work environment, level of stress and projected growth — four require a strong foundation in computer science. Key factors in these careers being ranked so highly are their strong earnings potential and the current and expected growth in demand.
“Careers in computer science are very rewarding and dynamic, and have the potential to affect and enrich the world in many ways. Waterloo has the largest concentration of computer science researchers in Canada, and an exceptional graduate and undergraduate program,” said Mark Giesbrecht, Director of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science.
“From courses and graduate research opportunities in cryptography, privacy and security to those in data science, software engineering, artificial intelligence and algorithms among many others, our faculty provide unparalleled education and training to the next generation of computer scientists, preparing them for fulfilling careers today and in the years to come.”
Top ranked careers
Number 3: Operations research analysts, who use advanced techniques, such as optimization, data mining, statistical analysis and mathematical modelling, to develop solutions that help organizations operate more efficiently and effectively.
Number 4: Information security analysts, who develop security and privacy technologies to protect computer systems and networks from infiltration and cyberattacks.
Number 5: Data scientists, who work at the intersection of information retrieval and data management to find insights in the 2.5 quintillion bytes of data that are created every day.
Number 8: Software engineers, who create, debug and maintain software. With embedded computing and the Internet of Things becoming ever more pervasive, software engineers have long been mainstays in the top ten careers and are expect to maintain that position in the years to come
