Minor in Information Technology (IT)

The purpose of the Division of CSS minors is to provide opportunities to students from non-technical disciplines a supplement to their major with a practical set of courses focused on information technology, computer science, and software engineering. This minor will help prepare you for a variety of industrial, government and business positions involving computer use.

The IT minor focuses on bridging the technology and information management and gives students a background in software design methodologies, computer programming, database systems and strategies for automating industrial and organizational processes.


Declaring the minor

The IT minor has the following prerequisite before it can be declared:

  • CSS 132 (C++) or 142 (Java; recommended): Computer Programing I

The associated skills labs for the prerequisite lectures (CSSSKL 132 or 142) are not themselves prerequisites for the IT minor, but the lectures all require concurrent enrollment in the labs.

The prerequisites must be completed (not in-progress) before declaring the minor. Once you have completed the prerequisites, contact the academic advisor for your major at any time to declare the minor.


Program requirements

Minimum credits and grades

  • A minimum of 25 credits must be earned for this minor
  • A minimum of 15 credits for the minor must be earned at UW Bothell campus
  • Each course used for the minor must be completed with a grade of 2.0 or higher

Core requirements (20 credits)

  • [Prerequisite] CSS 132 or 142: Computer Programming II
  • CSS 133, 143, or 173: Computer Programming II
  • CSS 360: Software Engineering
  • CSS 475: Database Systems

Elective requirements (5 credits)

You must take at least five (5) credits (usually one course) of “CSS” Elective coursework that is at least 200-level or higher.


Restrictions

  • Students in the Computer Science & Software Engineering (CSSE) and Applied Computing majors may not earn this minor due to the overlap in content.
  • No student may receive more than one of the CSSE or Information Technology minors due to the overlap in content.
  • Students in a Business major or minor may not use CSS 301 (Technical Writing) or CSS 350 (Management Principles) as an elective.

Registration

Important: Due to high demand for CSS courses, we cannot guarantee that there will always be space available for CSS minor students. Registration for students in minors is restricted until close to the beginning of each quarter.

To ensure you have the best chance of taking the courses you need, we strongly recommend completing the registration request form.


Petitions

Computing-related courses that are not included on the elective list are considered on a case-by-case basis. If you have a syllabus, letter from the instructor, or other detailed description for the class you wish to use as an elective, you may submit a petition to request for the course to count.

A minimum of 15 credits used for this minor must be taken at UW Bothell, which means that a maximum of 15 credits may be taken elsewhere (including other UW campuses).