Analyzing Computing Undergraduate Majors from Job Market Perspective

TL;DR

This study examines how different computing majors relate to job market demands in Saudi Arabia, revealing trends over ten years and differences in professional certifications among graduates.

Contribution

It provides a data-driven analysis of computing majors' relevance to the job market and tracks evolving employment trends and certification patterns.

Findings

Strong link between computing majors and relevant job positions

Decline in System Admin and Technical Support demand

Rise in Business Analysis, AI, and Data Science roles

Abstract

The demand for computing education increases due to the rapid development of technology and its involvement in most daily activities. Academic institutes offer a variety of computing majors, such as Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Cybersecurity, and Data Science. Since a major objective of earning a bachelor's degree is to improve career opportunities, it is crucial to understand how the job market perceives these computing majors. This study analyzed the relationships between various computing majors and the job market in Saudi Arabia, using LinkedIn public profile data, discovering insights into the strong relationship between the focus of certain computing majors and the employment of relevant job positions. Moreover, job category trends were analyzed over the past ten years, observing that demands for System Admin and Technical Support positions declined while demands for Business Analysis and Artificial Intelligence and Data Science inclined. This study also compared earned professional certifications between different computing major graduates that correspond to job position findings.