Introduction

Software Management is the first MS program established in Turkey to target specialized software domain knowledge. The objectives of this program are to lead the advancement of software practice in Turkey, to disseminate the domain knowledge on principles, processes, methods and techniques required to manage the development and evolution of software systems, and to bring forth experts and scientists in this field.

Program Aims

Software has become the driving force behind most of the new military and commercial Technologies and many business renovations. The complexity as well as application areas of software systems are rapidly growing. Increasing demand for software in diverse domains and in larger sizes requires the establishment and use of sound management, design and production principles in order to develop, manage and evolve software that has the desired functionality, is reliable, cost effective and developed on time.

The program targets professionals in the field. The students in the program will gain the ability to systematically define and use the knowledge on software development processes, methodologies, techniques and metrics. The program offers courses on software project management, software quality management, software acquisition management, requirements analysis, software architectures and design, software testing, human computer interaction, and software operations and maintenance. For students to gain necessary experience, design and implementation are seen as an integral part of all courses. Students are also involved in a realistic team project to integrate the knowledge and experience built up in specialized courses.

Program Structure

Software Management non-thesis master's program consists of ten three-credit courses (three core and seven elective courses), a non-credit term project and a non-credit graduate seminar course. The program requirements must be fulfilled in at most five semesters (three semesters for regular program and two semesters for deficiency program; during the deficiency program, core/elective courses can be taken.).

Program Outcome

• Till the completion of the program, it is aimed that a student of Software Management program will have the following knowledge, skills and behaviors.
• Knows and implements principles, processes, methods, techniques and standards necessary for software acquisition, development, management, and evolution.
• Defines and employs systematically business processes in general, specifically software development processes, methods, techniques and measurements. The graduate can evaluate these processes rationally and systematically for their improvements.
• Identifies problems in software system development, management and evolution; analyzes and provides solutions to them.
• Follows both the academic and the industry developments and practices in software engineering, evaluates them critically.
• Manages ICT, especially software engineering, projects and research projects.
• Decides and applies research methods to address problems in informatics domain, especially software engineering domain. The graduate can conduct theoretical, experimental or applied research.
• Systematically evaluates and distills experiences during the process of designing and developing software systems; applies them to other projects.
• Produces innovative ideas and products in the field of IT applications and services.
• Works effectively both independently and in multi-disciplinary teams as a team member or leader.
• Pays attention to ethical values and applies them at her professional and scientific studies.
• Presents the recent developments in the field and their work, by supporting with qualitative and quantitative data effectively in written and spoken English and Turkish.

Admission Requirements

Applications to the program are accepted for fall and spring semesters. Applications are evaluated based on the applicant's software engineering experience, academic background, ALES result and interviews held at the Informatics Institute.

The program is interdisciplinary and students from all disciplines can apply. Applicants who do not have a degree in computer science or engineering are expected to have at least one-year experience in a software development organization. Students enrolled in Software management program pay tuition fee based on the number of credit hours they register every semester. The amount of tuition fee per credit is determined at the beginning of each semester.

Career Prospects

• The graduates of Software Management M.S. program:
• Work as software engineer, information system researcher, expert and consultant, system analyst, software and system project manager
• Are employed by institutions who acquire, develop and maintain software systems
• Are entrepreneurs who establish companies that produce innovative services and products in the software and information system domain
• Pursue their careers as a scientist in any field of IT especially software engineering
• Are preferred by software systems research units of organizations
• Are preferred by information technology, telecommunications, defense, health, automotive, banking industries for the positions that require expertise in software engineering
• Are promoted to management positions in software developing organizations due to their scientific approaches and rational, systematic evaluations.