The University of Manitoba campuses and research spaces are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak, Anisininewuk, Dakota Oyate, Dene and Inuit, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. More
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, R3T 2N2
Map out your career pathway from the start of your academic journey!
Get the information you need for academic planning and connect with experiences to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes that employers are seeking.
This resource is meant as a guide to provide suggestions throughout your time at university (refer to the Academic Calendar for a complete list of program requirements). Develop a plan and timeline that suits you best. Make intentional choices for your courses and work experiences.
Student spotlight
“I’m almost always creating things, but I often feel limited by my tools. A large part of my motivation for pursing computer science is to break those limitations. We shouldn’t feel limited by our tools if we’re the ones who create them.”
Casey Hildebrand, computer science co-op student
As a computer science student at the University of Manitoba, you will learn about the ways in which computers and software aid, inform, and enrich our lives. The Department of Computer Science has many opportunities for you to explore, including the following areas: artificial intelligence and machine learning, computer systems, databases, human-computer interaction and graphics, networks and security, software engineering, theoretical computer science, and web-based systems. The department also offers joint honours programs in collaboration with mathematics, physics and astronomy and statistics.
Year 1 - 30 credit hours
Course requirements: COMP 1010 and COMP 1020 (C+ for Major, B for Honours), MATH 1220 (C+ for Honours) or MATH 1300 (C+), MATH 1230 or MATH 1500, MATH 1240 (C+ for Major, B for Honours), MATH 1700, STAT 1150
To do this year:
Year 2 - 60 Credit Hours
Course requirements: COMP 2080, COMP 2140, COMP 2400, COMP 2450, COMP 2452, COMP 2280
To do this year:
Year 3 - 90 Credit Hours
Course requirements: Refer to the Academic Calendar for course requirements in your honours or major program
To do this year:
Year 4 - 120 Credit Hours
Course requirements: Please refer to the Academic Calendar for course requirements in your honours or major program
To do this year:
Year 1 - 30 credit hours
Start planning your career:
Year 2 - 60 Credit Hours
Make professional connections:
Market your skills: Develop your resumé and cover letter and refine your interview skills.
Year 3 - 90 Credit Hours
Investigate your career options:
Consider continuing your studies: Check out the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Extended Education or other professional programs.
Year 4 - 120 Credit Hours
Start job search 9 months in advance: Contact Career Services to refine your job search and self-marketing strategies. You can visit the office up to 6 months after graduation.
If you are continuing on to a professional program or graduate school: Finalize your application materials and required tests. Use the awards database to search for funding and awards to help finance your continuing education. Contact your department to find out how their awards deadlines are advertised.
Year 1 - 30 credit hours
Link experiences to your career interests. Options include:
Year 2 - 60 Credit Hours
Explore student research opportunities: Apply for a research assistant position, Undergraduate Research Award or NSERC grant.
Gain practical experience by volunteering: Check out Let's Talk Science.
Earn while you learn: Consider applying to the Science Co-operative Education program once you have completed 60 credit hours.
Year 3 - 90 Credit Hours
Continue or start research: Participate in the Undergraduate Research Poster Competition and/or consider taking COMP 4522 (Honours Project) or COMP 4560 (Industrial Project).
Check out student job opportunities with: City of Winnipeg, Manitoba Hydro, Manitoba Public Insurance, and WISE Kid-Netic Energy.
Search for job opportunities online: Check out Science.ca, TechManitoba, Job Bank, Find My Job, Indeed or other search engines.
Use your networks and connections: Inquire about unadvertised job openings (the "hidden job market").
Year 4 - 120 Credit Hours
Ensure you have references in place: Ask your professor for a reference or a letter of recommendation if you're applying for graduate school.
Assess your resumé: Identify any gaps in experience and fill them through volunteering, work placements or internships such as the Microsoft Academy for College Hires program.
Cultural experiences offer valuable exposure and learning opportunities that help us engage with and appreciate the diversity in our communities and future workplaces. Learn more about Indigenous and International communities at the University of Manitoba.
Year 1 - 30 credit hours
Engage in intercultural experiences: Visit the International Centre website to learn more about volunteer opportunities for UM students. Engage in Indigenous cultural learning by attending Indigenous events on campus.
Indigenous Student Programming: If you’re an Indigenous Student, explore supports and programs at the Indigenous Student Centre.
Interested in studying abroad to gain intercultural experiences and skills employers want? Visit the student exchange programs website and book an appointment with the student mobility coordinator to learn more. Also learn about a full year abroad experience through McCall MacBain International Fellowships.
Year 2 - 60 credit hours
Applying for an international exchange program? Students apply almost one year in advance of their exchange. Book an appointment with the student mobility coordinator on the exchange programs website to start the process.
Participate in cultural learning opportunities on campus: Participate in Indigenous learning opportunities such as Fireside Chats, Tea with Auntie, Indigenous Studies Colloquium, and other events within your faculty. Your active and respectful participation is welcome at Indigenous ceremonies on campus. Please note that some ceremonies are confidential spaces; feel free to ask about cultural protocols.
Join a student community: There are many student groups at UM, including those that represent a wide variety of cultures and communities - the UM Indigenous Students’ Association (UMISA), UM International Students' Organization, and many more!
Looking to learn a language? Visit the Language Centre for a variety of resources and join the Language Exchange program or Language Partner Volunteer Program.
Year 3 - 90 credit hours
Develop global career skills and expand intercultural learning: Participate in the Intercultural Leaders program to enhance cultural awareness and develop intercultural skills for a variety of settings, both in and out of the classroom. Participate in 8 sessions with topics on leadership, self-awareness, intercultural competency, communication, conflict resolution and more.
Volunteer at the International Centre’s Welcome Mentors program and/or Graduation Pow Wow.
Engage locally: Learn more about the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba and your responsibility as a Treaty partner. Enroll in Community Engaged Learning programs; Indigenous students may wish to explore programs such as Land and Water: Land-Based Education.
Year 4 - 120 credit hours
Expand your knowledge on Indigenous culture and protocols, including developing your own Territory Acknowledgement. Explore resources provided by Canada's National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and take part in the educational programming offered during Truth and Reconciliation Week!
Industries such as business, education and government would value a computer science degree in combination with the employability skills that are highly sought after by employers. These include:*
Attain skills through your classroom education by taking advantage of experiential education opportunities.
*Information has been adapted from Employability Skills 2000+ and Workplace Education Manitoba – Essential Skills.
Briefly, tell us about your job. What do you find most rewarding? What are your greatest challenges within this profession?
I am an android engineer for Square. I am currently a developer for the Square Register which is the Android point-of-sale app. Occasionally I also work on backend services and website development. I joined Square because I wanted to support people making a living by doing what they love and this is still my strongest motivator. The hardest part of my job is trying to distill a large and growing set of complex features into their simplest form without losing functionality for larger merchants. It’s very rewarding to see merchants figure out creative ways to compose separate well-engineered functionality to do things that none of the developers imagined.
What experiences and activities helped you to map out your career pathway?
My first job out of university was working on global payments infrastructure at Amazon. After a year and a half, I was fascinated with the scale of the technology but I didn’t feel fulfilled in my position. I wanted to work more closely with the people who actually relied on the technology every day.
As a student, did you see yourself in your current career? What stayed the same and/or changed?
I have been interested in programming since middle school. I played with Android development for fun while I was studying at the University of Manitoba, but I never thought I would work on the platform professionally. I also never considered “payments” a field that I would identify with. Amazon was just a great opportunity to experience a new city and a technology stack bigger than anything I had worked on before. I have always been fascinated by how different systems are integrated together so, in hindsight, the highly complex payments industry is a natural fit for me.
What advice do you have for students who are interested in pursuing a degree in computer science?
Enroll in the Co-operative Education Program. Having the opportunity to see how real systems are built and how real teams work is invaluable, even if you’re only planning to do computer science research. Choose a non-scientific field that interests you for your electives or minor. You can learn about esoteric APIs on the job, so take advantage of the breadth of subjects available to you while you can. If you are a white male, learn about things like hidden biases and take a gender studies course. A lot of technology culture ends up being toxic and discriminatory simply because of ignorance and I think a greater focus on humanities in engineering programs could help start to rectify that.
What job search advice do you have for students and recent graduates?
Again, do the Co-operative Education Program. If going for an interview makes you nervous, take an interview preparation workshop at Career Services and keep practicing your interview skills until you feel confident. Spread out your co-op work terms. It’s interesting seeing how different teams work. Networking is crucial. Especially in Silicon Valley, most hiring is done through referrals. Another advantage of the doing a co-op is the large group of alumni that are more than happy to chat with you, both in and outside of Winnipeg.
Tell us a fun fact about your career path.
My team at Amazon was nicknamed “Beach” and as a joke we always had a collection of beach balls lying around. A few months after I started at Square, someone near my desk brought a giant beach ball and a bunch of mini ones and I still run into them on a regular basis.
Briefly, tell us about your job. What do you find most rewarding? What are your greatest challenges within this profession?
I am a software architect in the visual effects industry. The software we develop is used worldwide by artists to create images and visual effects for some of the biggest motion pictures. I find this job very rewarding because it allows me to work on complex, multidisciplinary projects. It is very rewarding to see the direct impact our work has on our clients and to see our software used in so many motion pictures. There are many challenges in this profession. I get to work on intricate programming and design problems which present challenges on a technical level. In practice, a lot of challenges in my career are related to communication, organization, managing teams of developers, as well as collaborating with clients. These types of soft skills are an essential part of the job.
What experiences and activities helped you to map out your career pathway?
From a young age I have been fascinated by computers and electronics, and always strived to figure out how they worked. I wrote my first video game at age 12 and started doing freelance work writing commercial websites and programs while in high school. I enjoyed it a lot, so I continued with it and my career path slowly evolved.
As a student, did you see yourself in your current career? What stayed the same and/or changed?
I did not know exactly where my career would end up. I just worked towards getting good at writing software because I knew I enjoyed it, and my career has evolved from there. I expected my career to focus primarily on writing software. Although this was the case throughout much of my career, my responsibilities now focus a lot more on leadership. This new role includes mentoring developers and designing large-scale systems rather than being intimately involved with every small detail of a project.
What advice do you have for students who are interested in pursuing a degree in computer science?
If you are passionate, or think you would enjoy a career in computer science, I would suggest you take the introduction courses for computer science or try experimenting in programming using online resources. If you find it interesting, continue on with it! Also, the industry is fairly male-dominated at the present time. I would strongly encourage women who have an interest in computer science to pursue this career. The entire field would benefit a lot from a cultural shift to help close the gender gap.
What job search advice do you have for students and recent graduates?
The University of Manitoba computer science program has a Co-operative Education program. This allows students to do three industry work terms in the area of their choosing. This work experience is immensely helpful in finding a job when students enter the workforce. It also gives students the opportunity to experience different areas of the profession and find out what they like best.
Meet with a career consultant for a confidential discussion about your career goals, job search, resumé/CV and interview preparation.
Contact Career Services at cs.receptionist@umanitoba.ca or call 204-474-9456 to make an appointment.
Talk to an academic advisor who will guide you to resources to help you make important decisions for your future. Advisors are specialized, often by program, faculty/school or unit.
Department of Computer Science
E2-445 Engineering and Information Technology Complex
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada
Career Services
Room 474 UMSU University Centre
65 Chancellor's Circle
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada
