The HCI Master was developed based upon our experiences with the long-standing Computer Science for Digital Media Master programme. CS4DM graduates have all readily found employment in industry and academia, in R&D departments at large companies (e.g. Volkswagen, BMW), research institutes (e.g. Fraunhofer), as well as at universities, with many continuing into a PhD.
The ability to design complex systems and interfaces with regard to usability and appropriateness for the usage context increases in importance. HCI graduates can work both in software development, in particular in conception and development of novel interface technologies, and in the area of usability and user research, which both grow in demand on the job market. Our unique project-based study approach provides graduates with a skill set that qualifies them both for research and industry careers.
Meanwhile, enough students have graduated that we can check our expectations against what happened, and indeed - so far, a number of our HCI graduates work in UX/Usability, e.g. as UX/UI Designer or UX Design-Technologist in industry, several have embarked on a PhD (e.g. in HCI, VR or Visualisation), while others went for a more technical job in IoS or mobile development.
Some graduates also develop startups. BUW offers support for this via the startup hub neudeli incubator, which consults and trains in entrepreneurship and has office spaces and an uni-internal pre-seed funding program.
