In spite of all the rumors and all the anxiety about outsourcing, the job market is very robust for graduates with an IT degree - computer engineering, software engineering or computer science - according to recent surveys by the National Association of Colleges and Employers
and other organizations that track the job market.
As reported in Money magazine, computer engineering and science graduates secure two out of the three top scores for top average starting salaries for new graduates for 2005 and are among the top ten in demand nationwide. jobWeb.com writes that
"Computer engineering, including hardware design and development, is expected to be one of the three fastest-growing occupations through the year 2006 (along with computer science and systems analysis)."
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics in their job market research have found that "The computer systems design and related services industry is expected to be one of the top 10 fastest growing industries in the economy, adding more than 600,000 jobs between 2002 and 2012. Professional and related workers enjoy the best prospects, reflecting continuing demand for higher level skills needed to keep up with changes in technology."
Salary.com reports good salaries for computer and software engineers as well, $54,600 for entry level hardware engineers and $59,000 for entry level software engineers in Silicon Valley.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the average software engineer in Silicon Valley now earns $81,748
According to FastCompany's annual survey of the 25 top jobs to pursue for the next five years, computer and software engineers were ranked #3 overall.
According to the California Employment Development Department for the 2003-2008 prospects the top six fastest-growing professions with a BS degree background in Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) are
| Profession | Percent Change |
| Network & Computer Systems Administrators | 43.4% |
| Computer Software Engineers, Applications | 39.1% |
| Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software | 34.8% |
| Network Systems & Data Communications Analysts | 34.5% |
| Database Administrators | 26.9% |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 22.4% |
EE Times provides this graph of salaries within their domain (EE & CS (& thus CMPE))
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