Overview

Students majoring in computer science can complete their so-called working life studies included in their degree on the basis of work experience in the IT field. Working life studies are

•     the course 582509 in the BSc degree, Working professionally in the IT field, 2-6 credits
•     the course 582511 in the MSc degree, Working in advanced professional duties in the IT field, 2-6 credits.

Students with enough work experience may also replace the intermediate BSc course 581260 Software engineering project, 9+1+2 credits.

The courses completed on the basis of work experience are enough to fulfil the compulsory work experience credits for both degrees.

Note! While studying for your BSc or MSc degree, you do not necessarily have to work in the field. There are other ways to complete the work experience credits for your degree: the minimum of 1 credit for the BSc degree is always attained with the Software engineering project; for the MSc degree the course Information Technology: Now! or IT as a Profession or  Software Factory Project Work or New Trades: Game and Game Industry.

Work experience that substitutes for the software engineering project is registered in Oodi to the extent of 9 credits under the normal code 581260 and with the notation ‘Work experience in the IT field’. At the same time, the compulsory working life credits will be registered; 1 credit for the BSc degree (code 582509) and 2 credits for the MSc degree (code 582511).

Low credit: only working life studies, no substitute for software engineering project

One credit point is equivalent with 1 month of working full-time. When part-time work is converted to fulltime, one working week is 40h long. The employment may consist of many parts and there may be several different employers.

The extent approved for each degree can be 2-6 credits.

High credit: the software engineering project + working life credits (tot. 12 cr.)

The requirements for these credits are different from the normal requirements described above. For these credits, you have to gain at least the grade 3/5 for the course Software engineering. Furthermore, you are required to have at least one year of varied work experience that fits the objectives of the Software engineering project in different roles of a software engineering team of at least 3 people (several different roles in the teams: pre-study, specifications, design, programming, testing, project management, and software and hardware acquisitions).  Part-time work will be converted to fulltime in the same way as above (1 week = 40h). You can have your credits signed off once you have fulfilled the prerequisites for participating in the software engineering project.

Applying

The high and low credits are mutually exclusive.

Send a free-form registration application by email - with attachments - to the head of studies (at opintoesimies[at]cs.helsinki.fi). Add your student number to your application.

The application should include employment certificates from the employers.

The certificates should mention the duration of employment. They should also specify that the work was carried out in the IT field, and include the employer’s contact details. Work experience at the department of computer science is considered a half-time employment, if it includes studying, such as working with the Master's thesis (this is valid also for thesis working for an external employer).

•     For the low-credit application, the certificate(s) of employment is/are enough, if they show the duration and IT field in sufficient detail.

Please observe that, in order to assess the number of credits, it must be possible to convert part-time work to fulltime. If this is not clear in the employment certificate(s), please explain in your email. You may also describe what kind of duties you had, and what methods, documentation techniques, programming languages, and tools you used.

•     The description (some 4-6 pages) for the high-credit application must describe your work in software projects in more detail than above, taking into consideration the learning objectives of the software engineering project. Please use the learning objective matrix for the software engineering project available online. Things that are significant are how varied your experience is and the relationships it included (what kind of teams, client contacts, your own role in the project, other members’ roles, etc).  The application along with its attachments will remain in the department’s archives, so please send copies of originals.