BSc (Hons) Software Development (Add-On)

Course Summary

The software industry is strong, providing specialist employment, with Ireland an important centre for localisation. The majority of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ireland is from the US, amounting to over 600 companies employing 100,000 people.

The Irish technology sector remains buoyant with Google, Facebook, Microsoft and eBay all having a major presence here. At IT Sligo our objective is to equip our graduates with the skills to seek employment in this level of business. We constantly re-assess course content to keep apace of emerging platforms and industry trends. You will undertake a work placement in the third year.

This programme takes into account the specific requirements of the global software industry and what it expects from graduates.

Learn much more about this programme or computing in general at IT Sligo.

Entry Requirements

Entry requirements for CAO courses at ATU Sligo are available for download below:

• Download Entry requirements for just Level 8 programmes
• Download Entry requirements for all programmes

This programme is offered currently only for advanced entry to Year 4. You will need a Level 7 in a Software Development programme or cognate area. Alternatively, we can process advanced entry in some case through an examination of your experiential learning.

Career Opportunities

The software industry is exceptionally strong in Ireland, providing a significant number of employment opportunities in a wide variety of organisation. The opportunities are with both indigenous Irish companies and large multinational organisations and not only in what you would call “tech” companies such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook. All sectors require software professionals and there are many opportunities in traditional sectors such as finance, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, health and service industries.

The outlook is positive. Morgan McKinley report demand for software developers shows “no sign of slowing down”. It continues: “Over the past 12 months salaries have increased across the majority of areas particularly in the development space.”

There are many progression routes into the software industry. Future career paths could include software testing, software engineer, web developer, application developer, mobile app developer, games developer, systems analyst, project manager.

Further Study

Students are well positioned to progress to Master's study.  Options include the M.Eng in Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and the MSc in Data Science 

Testimonials

Joe Dunleavy: I am from Sligo and studied computer science in IT Sligo successfully qualifying with a Bsc. in Computing in 2002. I started my career in Microsoft in Dublin before spending some time in a tech start up at Sligo IT. After that I moved to Letterkenny where I currently head up our disruptive technology innovation office in Pramerica. I have been with Pramerica now for 13 years and in that time I had an international rotation for 3 years with my family to the US with our parent company Prudential in 2012.
Sligo IT was a great place to study. I made great friends there, learned critical skills to help me to have a rewarding career in technology and I had many great nights out and laughs along the way in my time there.

Course Format

Semester 1

Semester 2

Semester 3