Main image of article Best Colleges for 5 of the Hottest Jobs in Tech

For aspiring technology pros, earning a college degree is often an important first step toward landing a job that will be in demand for years to come.

However, the reality is that some colleges are better than others at preparing students for some of today’s most in-demand roles such as A.I. engineer, software developer, data scientist, information security analyst and business analyst.

While there are countless options for getting a degree within the larger computer science field, we reached out to several college ranking services and experts to see which colleges excel at preparing students to land the positions that consistently rank as "hot” based on criteria such as high pay, strong growth in job postings and demand for the foreseeable future.

Software Developer

Helpful Professor took an interesting approach in looking at which colleges are best for software development. They compared the total number of alumni listed on LinkedIn to the number of alumni working in a specific role or profession to see which institutions are producing the most professionals.

Based on their analysis, Carnegie Mellon University holds a unique sway in the software industry, with almost one in five of its graduates pursuing careers as software developers.

Other institutions that receive high marks include Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Texas- Dallas and Rochester Institute of Technology. Each of these schools has an impressive record, with a minimum of 10 percent of their graduates making their way into the field of software development.

A high job placement rate often results from collaborative relationships and alliances between colleges and businesses, so that’s something to look for when evaluating potential colleges explained Marge Cortes, an engineer, educational consultant and founder of Engineering Next. 

Colleges with strong business ties tend to provide a curriculum that aligns with employers’ needs as well as co-ops and internships that develop skills in quick thinking, decision-making and detail orientation, which can significantly increase your chances of securing a job offer after graduation.

Niche, which analyzes academic, admissions, financial and student life data from the U.S. Department of Education along with reviews from students and alumni to determine its rankings, also rates the University of Washington, University of California- Irvine and Stanford as top colleges with software engineering degrees.

Business Analyst

With 21 percent growth in year-over-year job postings, business analyst is an exciting and in-demand role that offers plentiful opportunities for growth and advancement. In fact, employers have posted 318,672 open positions for business analysts over the past 12 months.

While business schools offer a growing number of options for focusing on business analytics, some of the top rated colleges according to (U.S. News and Bachelor’s Degree Center) include:

Data Scientist

Don’t look at the program’s title; look at the skillset it provides when evaluating a college’s ability to prepare you for a career in data science, noted Steven Finkelstein, a data scientist and career advisor.

Review the syllabuses for the various courses to make sure they offer significant coursework or the equivalent of a minor in programming as well as instruction in statistics and probability; database structure, modeling and design; and the scientific method for data analysis he added.

A data science program should also provide instruction in technologies that align with employers’ current needs, such as Python and SQL, and a tool-agnostic approach.

Consensus selections from U.S. News and Science Journal for the best colleges offering data science programs include:

Information Security Analyst

According to Helpful Professor, Strayer University holds a leading position in producing infosec experts, with just under 1 percent of its alums (or 76 in every 10,000) working as information security analysts. George Mason University and DeVry University are other colleges to consider for a career in infosec, with each college training over 1,000 information security analysts each.

Other schools that produce a high number of professionals and receive high grades from Niche include George Washington University and Rochester Institute of Technology.

A.I. Engineer

Carnegie Mellon University, widely recognized for prowess in artificial intelligence (A.I.) and self-proclaimed birthplace of the field, leads the pack of U.S. colleges in generating the highest percentage of A.I. engineers to alumni, according to Helpful Professor. Stanford (which boasts the greatest number of alumni A.I. engineers at 2,546), Georgia Institute of Technology, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are also notable contenders on this list, each contributing approximately 2,000 AI engineers. With A.I. gaining traction in the mainstream, these numbers will continue on an upward trajectory for the foreseeable future.

The best colleges for A.I. engineering offer well-rounded instruction in privacy, regulation and ethics related to A.I., Cortes noted. Also, universities that are developing research hubs are often better at preparing students for careers in cutting-edge fields like A.I., data science, robotics and so forth. The hubs provide funding for education as well as opportunities for students to attend conferences, hear from thought leaders and work directly with faculty on research projects.

Other colleges rounding out the top 10 AI programs according to U.S. News include: