Why take CS at a liberal arts college?

Or asked another way, why major in CS at Le Moyne when I could go to [fill-in a city or state name] Institute of Technology?

NACE is the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Each year NACE does a survey of employers. Employers responding to NACE's Job Outlook 2003 rated the importance of candidate qualities. In 2003, the top six qualities were:

1. Communication skills (verbal & written)
2. Honesty/integrity
3. Teamwork skills (works well with others)
4. Interpersonal skills (relates well to others)
5. Motivation/initiative
6. Strong work ethic

The jobweb site contains career development and job-search information for college students and new college graduates, and is owned by NACE. This page summarizes the Job Outlook 2007 results on the importance of candidate qualities. In 2007, the top six qualities were:

1. Communication skills (verbal & written)
2. Honesty/integrity
3. Interpersonal skills (relates well to others)
4. Motivation/initiative
5. Strong work ethic
6. Teamwork skills (works well with others)

While the order of the top six qualities have changed sligthly over the years, the same six qualities continue to be most important from an employers perspective.

Given these survey results, one can conclude that a well-rounded education should improve your job prospects upon graduation. At Le Moyne, each student is required to take the core curriculum. These core courses emphasize many of the six qualities listed above. In comparison, a technical school will have significantly fewer liberal arts requirements, giving you fewer opportunities to improve on these six qualities.

Other perspectives on the top six qualities include:

• Information technology does not exist in a vacuum - it is developed and used by humans. Thus it should be no surprise that human qualities are more important than technical qualities.
• The stereotype of a programmer developing software in a closet is long gone. The complexity of modern software systems requires people with various expertise to work together on producing software.