Computer Science Education & Washington s Workforce

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1 Computer Science Education & Washington s Workforce Hank Levy Chairman and Wissner Slivka Chair UW Department of Computer Science & Engineering House Higher Education Committee January 22,

2 WA Information Technology Sector Technology based industries are at the forefront of Washington s economy. They account for the largest share of employment, business activity, and labor income of any sector in the state s economic base. Through multiplier effects, 1.44 million jobs in Washington State were created due to technology based industries, which is 45% of total employment in Washington State. The Information Technology sector is the largest technology sector in Washington (larger than Aerospace), with 110,000 direct jobs and 500,000 direct+indirect jobs. Information Technology companies are powered by people with undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Science. 2

3 Beyond Washington s IT Sector Nearly every modern industry requires computer scientists with advanced skills in order to develop competitive state of the art products and services In Washington State, computing and information technology is a crucial driver for Washington industry of all kinds, for example: Healthcare and biotech: Computing technology has enabled rapid and cheap gene sequencing, leading to advances in personalized medicine being explored by the Fred Hutch, the Institute for Systems Biology, and many biotech startup companies. This will lead to huge improvements in health care. Aerospace: Boeing developed advanced software technology that allows them to design and build an entire airplane without a physical mockup, by simulating all the components and their assembly on a computer, providing a huge cost and time savings. This began with the

4 Information Technology Sector Workforce Needs In IT, there are jobs for all sorts of people with all sorts of skills. IT producers (Leading edge companies)» Microsoft, Amazon, Google, F5 Networks, Isilon IT consumers» Banks, insurance companies, retailers, etc. It is the IT producers that distinguish Washington s economy from that of other states 4

5 What Leading Edge Companies Need High quality talent The ability to hire the best talent is the key to success for companies both small and large A great software engineer is worth 100 good ones, poorly trained talent is the death of a small company Local talent New startups cannot afford to recruit from around the country they need to find outstanding talent in the region Steady pipeline of high quality, local talent Tech companies locate in WA for our talent pool that comes from two sources: existing companies (Microsoft, Amazon, etc.) the University of Washington (UW/CSE) 5

6 UW CSE s Role A Top 10 Computer Science Program in the nation Largest computer science student producer in Washington State 290 degrees annually (180 B.A., 85 Masters, 25 PhD) 80% of CSE students are WA state residents One of the top 5 suppliers of new graduates to Amazon, Microsoft, and Google (along with MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon) The #1 supplier of new graduates to many leading small and midsize firms headquartered in Washington Produce new technology that grows economy and creates jobs Over $300M in venture capital raised by UW/CSE startups Most recent CSE technology spinoff raised $1.5M last month 6

7 CSE s Connections to Industry Co ops and internship programs 80% of our students do co ops or internships Professional Master s Program for local working professionals Career enhancement and advanced technical education for computing professionals working at local high tech companies CSE has granted over 600 Master s degrees in this program Industry Affiliates Program Fosters interaction with over 100 of the region's and nation's leading information technology firms. Twice yearly job fairs for start ups and established companies Tech transfer and research commercialization collaboration Close relationship to local venture capital companies 7

8 UW CSE s (Washington s!) Challenge Capacity! Bachelor s level: UW CSE turns away approximately 300 applicants/year due to lack of capacity many of them highly capable Graduate level: We can take only 1 in 10 students who apply 8

9 How we can fix it Due to the proviso funding last year, UW CSE committed to adding 90 new degrees per year increasing degree production by 25% at all degree levels The cost for this increase was $1.7M We can do this again! 9

10 Summary Information Technology is crucial to the state economy now and in the future The largest employment gap is in information technology there are jobs for lots of people with many different skill levels Leading edge companies need the very best talent to succeed UW CSE has a long term record as a major feeder of top talent to the best regional companies, large and small Capacity limitations in UW CSE and other state CS programs is throttling student production UW CSE is growing by 25% as a result of last year s proviso, we could grow again with a similar injection of resources 10