2024-2025 Academic Catalog 
    
    Dec 08, 2024  
2024-2025 Academic Catalog

Software Development, M.S.


The Master of Science (MS) in Software Development prepares students to analyze, code, design, and test software that solves real-world problems. The program provides opportunities to work on projects from start to finish, lead project teams, apply project management skills, and deliver secure reliable software in various languages. Whether you are changing career paths or looking to enhance your software development skills, the MS of Software Development is the program designed for you.

Through a comprehensive curriculum, students learn to create innovative solutions to complex problems. You won’t be writing papers on software development. Instead, you will learn the foundations of software development as you develop solutions for the frontend as well as the backend of the software stack. Learn various languages, frameworks, cloud infrastructures, and how to work in methodologies like Agile. Every class in our curriculum will have hands-on learning and actual development assignments where you will analyze requirements, build the software, and test to show you understand the solution.

Program Outcomes

 A graduate of the Maryville University MS in Software Development should be able to:

  • Employ industry-standard practices and exhibit proficiency using a variety of programming languages and their structures to code, design, and develop software
  • Apply industry-standards software development tools and methodologies to the formation of programs that solve real-world problems
  • Implement UI/UX concepts to software solutions to provide a beneficial user experience
  • Articulate how the structural interplay of technology, business and interpersonal relationships influence how and why computer systems are developed, function, and are maintained
  • Identify emerging trends in technology and how new advanced technologies are implemented and scaled in society
  • Install, configure, and deploy industry-standard software systems
  • Conceptualize the fundamentals of programming languages and the relationships among languages, hardware, and developers
  • Reflect the underlying relationship between language and structure to produce and deploy software designed to address a specific problem

The Master of Science with a major in Software Development requires 30 graduate credit hours. SWDV 600 Software Development I and SWDV 610 Software Development II may be waived if the applicant possesses an undergraduate degree, minor, graduate degree, or equivalent coursework in computer science, computer engineering, information technology with a specialization in software development, data science or software development. Applicants with at least two years of work experience as a software developer or software engineer may also waive SWDV 600. Applicants with relevant experience may request a waiver for SWDV 610. An interview may be required.

Students who waive out of SWDV 600 and/or SWDV 610 should select replacement coursework from the MS Data Analytics, MS Cybersecurity, MS Data Science, MBA, or MA Management & Leadership to reach the required total of 30 graduate credits.

Depending upon the student’s academic background, prerequisite coursework may be required. Because the MS in Software Development program is offered by the Simon School of Business, it is expected that students have a foundational understanding of business. Students with an undergraduate degree outside the business area must take BUS-501, Survey of Business. Credit hours earned for BUS 501 may be required for the program but do not count toward the 30 credit hours required for the degree. Coursework is available online only.

The MS in Software Development is accredited by ACBSP (Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs).