AI-Native Software Engineering Specializations — Year 3

Year 3 is where students move from learning the fundamentals of software engineering to discovering where they want to take those skills.

Students choose a specialization and apply the principles learned during Years 1 and 2 to increasingly complex technical challenges. Each specialization introduces a different area of the technology industry while continuing to use AI-native development practices.

Rather than simply learning another programming language or memorizing another collection of technical commands, students work on substantial projects that require them to research, design, build, test, troubleshoot and explain their solutions.

AI is embedded throughout the process.

Students learn how modern engineers use AI to accelerate development, explore unfamiliar technologies, analyze problems, automate repetitive work and experiment with solutions. They also learn the responsibility that comes with increasingly powerful tools: validating results, protecting data, understanding security implications and knowing when human judgment must take precedence.

Students may explore one of three initial pathways:

Cybersecurity — understanding how software and systems are attacked, protected and monitored.

Cloud & Infrastructure — learning how modern applications are deployed, scaled and operated using cloud technologies.

Game & Interactive Development — combining programming, graphics, interaction and AI to create games and interactive experiences.

The specialization culminates in a substantial portfolio project that demonstrates not only what the student can build, but how they think, solve problems and work with modern engineering tools.

By the end of Year 3, students should be able to approach a real-world technical problem, research what they need to know, use AI effectively, build a solution and defend the decisions behind it.

The goal is not to produce students who know everything.

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It is to produce young engineers who know how to figure things out.