(MIS vs CS vs CE & CCE) Careers & Salaries: An Analysis of Recent Survey Data
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Introduction
Choosing between Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Management Information Systems (MIS) is a significant challenge for many prospective university students. Even after making a decision, questions remain: What career opportunities will be available after graduation? What salary levels can be expected?
To address these concerns, I conducted a survey on May 15, 2025, targeting graduates from these majors who have already entered the workforce. The survey explored topics such as the relevance of their current jobs to their field of study, job satisfaction, and current salary levels.
Article Overview
This article consolidates the key results from our graduate survey, exploring academic backgrounds, career trajectories, salary distributions, and job satisfaction. By distilling these insights, we aim to offer clear, data-driven guidance for anyone involved in the CS, CE, and MIS ecosystems.
Key Questions Addressed
- Should I pursue a Computer Science (CS) or Computer Engineering (CE) degree?
- What exactly is Management Information Systems (MIS), and what career paths does it open?
- How do the salaries of CS, CE, and MIS graduates compare?
Why This Data Matters
- Students & Prospective Students: Make informed decisions about your major and future career.
- Recent Graduates: Benchmark your role, compensation, and satisfaction against industry peers.
- Employers: Understand the talent pool’s expectations, set competitive pay scales, and improve retention strategies.
Respondent Profile: Who Took the Survey?
Academic Backgrounds
This section summarizes the fields of study represented by our survey respondents. The three main groups are:
Distribution of Major Groups:
- Computer Science (CS): ~50%
- Management Information Systems (MIS): ~25%
- Engineering (Computer & Communication): ~25%
The data show that half of the participants hold a CS degree, while MIS and engineering graduates each make up a quarter of the sample.
Graduation Cohorts
The distribution of graduation years offers insight into respondents’ professional experience:
Distribution of Graduation Years:
Most participants are recent graduates (within the last five years), representing early-career professionals. A smaller group graduated in earlier cohorts (e.g., 2005, 2011) and typically occupy managerial or leadership roles.
Overall Career Landscape: First Impressions
This section provides a high-level view of the graduates' current professional standing.
Common Career Paths
Graduates have embarked on a variety of careers. Below are the most common job titles reported:
Top 15 Job Titles:
Key takeaways:
- Software engineering roles (front-end, back-end, full-stack) dominate among CS and Engineering graduates.
- MIS graduates show a strong presence in IT and business-related positions.
- Engineering graduates also fill specialized technical roles such as system engineering and electronic technician—areas less common for CS and MIS.
- CS graduates span the entire technology industry, as seen in the scatter plot.
- MIS graduates bridge technical and business domains, reflecting their dual focus on technology and organizational processes.
Overall Job-Major Relationship
- Computer Science: The majority of graduates report a strong alignment between their current roles and their field of study.
- Engineering: Responses are split roughly 50/50 between “strongly related” and “somewhat related,” reflecting many engineers’ transition into software-focused positions.
- MIS: 20% of MIS graduates say their jobs are not related to their major—the highest share among the groups—while the remainder are evenly divided between strong and partial alignment. This likely reflects the difficulty of finding roles that blend business strategy with programming expertise.
Salary Overview
Compensation is a key indicator of market value and career progression.
Distribution of Monthly Salaries (USD):
Early-career graduates typically earn between USD 500 and USD 2,000 per month (median: USD 1,000). Salaries above USD 2,000 are generally associated with professionals who have accumulated several years of industry experience.
Job Satisfaction Snapshot
How satisfied are graduates with their current roles?
Distribution of Job Satisfaction Scores:
- Engineering graduates: Median scores between 3.5 and 4.0, with a few low outliers.
- Computer Science graduates: Centered around 3.5, extending down to 2.0 for some respondents.
- MIS graduates: Exhibit the widest spread (1.0–5.0), with an average score of approximately 3.0.
The Influence of Academic Major on Career Outcomes
Does the choice of major significantly impact career paths, salaries, and job satisfaction?
Major vs. Salary
Let’s explore how monthly salaries differ across major groups.
Monthly Salary by Major Group:
While MIS graduates show a slight cluster around USD 700–900, possibly reflecting less emphasis on advanced programming, the salary ranges for Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and MIS overlap substantially. This indicates that major alone is not a reliable predictor of compensation. Factors such as industry sector, job role, years of experience, and specialized skills likely play a more significant role in determining salary outcomes.
Skills & Professional Development: What Graduates Value
Understanding the skills graduates deem important and the factors contributing to their success.
Most Sought-After Skills
Which skills do graduates wish they had focused on more during their studies and early careers?
Top 15 Desired Skills:
Graduates identified both technical and interpersonal skills as areas for improvement:
- Coding (programming languages, system design, debugging) for building robust, value-driven features. (I intentionally kept devOps separated from coding to show that there is a good portion indicating that DevOps is very desired)
- Social Skills (public speaking, communication, networking) for effective teamwork and stakeholder engagement
This balance highlights the need to pair strong programming capabilities with collaboration and communication skills in today’s work environment.
Key Factors for Career Success
What resources or experiences have been most instrumental in graduates’ current roles?
Most Helpful Factors in Current Role:
Based on survey feedback:
- Self-Learning: Topped the list, with graduates highlighting online courses, tutorials, and personal projects as vital for skill development.
- Internships & Practical Experience: Hands-on roles during studies helped bridge theory and practice.
- Mentorship & Networking: Advice from industry professionals and connections made at events accelerated career growth.
- University Education: Rated lower than other factors, indicating many graduates rely more on self-directed learning and real-world experience.
- Certifications & Workshops: Provided targeted upskilling in specific tools and methodologies.
Analysis & Reflections
The survey reveals that while each major—CS, CE, and MIS—tends to funnel graduates into distinct role types, salary ranges overlap substantially. This suggests that domain expertise alone does not lock in compensation; factors such as industry sector, years of experience, and specialized skills play a larger role in pay outcomes.
Surprising Findings
- MIS graduates exhibit the widest spread in both salary and job satisfaction, reflecting that the major itself is not enough to land well paying jobs, they must put extra efforts into their skills.
- Self-learning (online courses, tutorials, personal projects) outranks formal university education in impact, so do not be surprised that your degree is worthless in comparison with your self learned skills.
Actionable Insights
- Students should balance deep technical training with soft skills (communication, teamwork), as companies value both.
- Early internships and project-based learning bridge the gap between theory and practice, which can help you become job-ready and meat the market requirements.
Practical Advice
- Pursue mentorship and networking opportunities (industry events, alumni groups) to gain real-world perspectives and referrals.
- Build a portfolio of personal projects to demonstrate initiative and problem-solving ability.
Limitations
- The anonymous, self-selected sample may skew toward early-career respondents and those with strong opinions—results may not generalize to all alumni.
- A pool of 108 respondants cannot generalize the whole job market, but it can give a headsup of what to expect; longitudinal studies would better track career progression dynamics.
Disclaimer
The insights presented in this article are based on aggregated data from an anonymous survey. The raw data from this survey was used for this analysis, and care has been taken to protect the privacy of individuals who participated. Findings reflect the responses of the surveyed cohort and may not be generalizable to all graduates.
Your Next Step!
If you are serious about elevating your skills to become job market ready then you should consider joining the Software Engineering Excellence, where we aim to boost your skills so that you become the employee every company dreams having. all details are on this page and you can directly contact us via WhatsApp
Article based on analysis performed on May 24, 2025.