<p>As a software engineer with 23 years experience, I am going to say the following:</p>
<p>1) ALWAYS select a Computer Science or Computer & Information Science degree over a Software Engineering degree as far being a student. An employer can teach a CS grad (or Math, Physics, Engineering majors) software engineering principles. Employers do not have the time to teach Data Structures, Algorithms, Programming Language Theory, Operating Systems Principles, Databases and Network Theory.</p>
<p>2) Each employer has their “own flavor” of software engineering. Boeing slightly differs from Northrop Grumman which differs from SAIC which differs from General Dynamics which differs from the various DoD government agencies.</p>
<p>3) The software engineering process is very similar to the system engineering process of: Requirements Analysis–>Design–>Development–>Testing–>Deployment–>Sustainment. I am not sold on having 15-week semester courses on each phase. Hell, some of your projects at your job won’t have phases that long.</p>
<p>Most hiring managers will think “I need that Java/C++/Python wiz right now…I’ll get what’s-his-name/what’s-her-name to coach them in software engineering”.</p>