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The route into software engineer

Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.

1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen

Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.

Saudi curriculum track

مسار علوم الحاسب والهندسة— Computer Science and Engineering

A-Level

  • Mathematicsrequiredfor Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • Physicsrequiredfor Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • Further Mathematicshelpsfor Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • Computer Sciencehelpsfor Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

IB Diploma

  • Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HLrequiredfor Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • Physics HLrequiredfor Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • Computer Sciencehelpsfor Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Advanced Placement

  • AP Calculus BChelpsfor Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • AP Physics C: Mechanicshelpsfor Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • AP Computer Science Ahelpsfor Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mathematics
  • AP Statisticshelpsfor Computer Science, Mathematics
  • AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetismhelpsfor Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Physics

2. The degree

More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.

  • Computer Science

    The largest destination by a very wide margin.

    Three to four years in the UK, four to five in the Kingdom and the US, often with a placement year.

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

    Embedded and systems software; electrical graduates move into software far more easily than the reverse.

    Four to five years, with a preparatory year common in the Kingdom.

  • Mathematics

    Employers treat a mathematics degree as evidence of the reasoning ability programming requires.

    Three years in the UK, four in the Kingdom and the US; four-year integrated master's routes are common.

  • Physics

    A very common destination, and employers read the degree as evidence of reasoning ability.

    Three to four years, with four-year integrated master's routes standard in the UK for research-bound students.

3. Exams, and when to sit them

Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.

  • TMUAOctober

    Required or advantageous at Cambridge, Imperial, Warwick and others — and now carries Oxford's computer science admissions since the MAT was retired from 2026 entry.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12

    The Saudi composite for computing colleges.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • SAT or ACTGrade 11 to early Grade 12

    For US applications, where computer science is among the most competitive majors to be admitted directly into.

    • March, May, JuneSpring sittings. The standard first attempt, in Grade 11.
    • August, October, November, DecemberAutumn sittings. The second attempt, and the last one that reaches early US deadlines is usually the October or November date.
    • Two to four weeks after each sittingScores released; sending them to universities is a separate step with its own timing.
  • ESAT or TMUAOctober

    Required at Cambridge and Imperial; not required by most universities.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • IELTS, TOEFL or STEPBefore enrolment

    Determines whether a preparatory year is required at English-medium engineering colleges.

    • Weekly, year-roundIELTS and TOEFL both run frequently at centres across the Kingdom; Duolingo and PTE can be sat at very short notice.
    • 3 to 13 days after the testResults, depending on the test. IELTS computer-delivered is among the fastest; paper-based is slower.
    • Autumn of Grade 12 at the latestWhen to have sat it by, leaving room for one repeat before offers are decided.
  • STEPJune, alongside A-Levels

    Usually an offer condition at Cambridge and Warwick rather than a shortlisting test. Genuinely hard; begin a year early.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • PATOctober

    Oxford's physics and engineering test.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • ESATOctober

    Cambridge and Imperial, for natural sciences and physics.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.

4. After the degree

Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.

Saudi Arabia

  1. schoolSecondary school, science track (علمي) preferred3 yr
  2. undergraduateBSc Computer Science or Software Engineering4–5 yrs
  3. practiceWorking engineer0 yr

LicensingNone. This is one of the few well-paid technical careers with no licence, no registration and no professional body gate — what you can demonstrate matters more than what you hold.

United States · United States — via a degree

  1. schoolHigh school with maths4 yr
  2. undergraduateBachelor's in computer science or a related field4 yr
  3. practiceWorking engineer0 yr

LicensingNone.

United States · Without a degree

  1. schoolHigh school, with maths taken as far as you can4 yr
  2. trainingSelf-directed learning or an intensive programme, building real projects1–3 yrs
  3. trainingFirst role, often junior or contract, then compounding experience1–2 yrs
  4. practiceWorking engineer0 yr

LicensingNone — which is precisely why this route exists at all. No employer can be required to see a qualification, because there is no qualification to require.

United Kingdom

  1. schoolA-levels, usually including maths2 yr
  2. undergraduateBSc Computer Science, or a degree apprenticeship3–4 yrs
  3. practiceWorking engineer0 yr

LicensingNone.

5. What the route costs

Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.

Saudi Arabia

School-leaving to independent practice: 4–5 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is air traffic controller at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 1 year by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of SAR 140,000–220,000, that is roughly SAR 140,000–220,000 of earnings deferred.

United States

School-leaving to independent practice: 4 years.

United States

School-leaving to independent practice: 2–5 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is aircraft maintenance engineer at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 1 year by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of $48,780–62,630, that is roughly $48,780–62,630 of earnings deferred.

United Kingdom

School-leaving to independent practice: 3–4 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is management consultant at 3 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 1 year by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of £27,000–35,000, that is roughly £27,000–35,000 of earnings deferred.

How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out

It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.

Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.