Computer ProgrammingAS DegreeCertificate of Achievement
- Community of interest
- Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
- Award
- AS Degree
- Program code
- 31307.01AS
- Department
- Comp Sys Admin/Info Sys
- CIP code
- 11.0103: Information Technology.
- TOP code
- 0702.00 - Computer Information Systems*
Program detailsAward, code, department, CIP/TOP
Program Snapshot
- Community of interest
- STEM Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
- Award
- AS Degree
- Program code
- 31307.01AS
- Department
- Comp Sys Admin/Info Sys
- CIP code
- 11.0103: Information Technology.
- TOP code
- 0702.00 - Computer Information Systems*
Next Steps
AS Degree — expand to learn about this award
The Associate of Science is typically awarded for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Career Technical Education (CTE) programs. Like every Butte College associate degree, it has two parts: a general-education curriculum that gives you a broad base of knowledge, and an academic program where you specialize.
About General Education. GE is an integrated program of learning designed to foster intellectual curiosity, cultural understanding, critical thinking, creative reasoning, oral and written communication, and the capacity for ethical reasoning. By graduation, you'll have developed the ability to think critically, communicate clearly, apply quantitative reasoning, understand how the major academic disciplines ask their questions, comprehend diverse cultures and historical periods, and assess ethical problems — alongside the depth you build in your major.
Semester-by-Semester Map
Term 1
Class Schedules
course details
This course introduces students to the fundamental concepts of programming. Students will learn about the software development life-cycle, algorithms, and the design, implementation, and testing of programs using an object-oriented programming language. (C-ID COMP 112).
course details
This course is an introduction to web development using HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript. Students will learn to design and build standards-compliant front-end/client-side web applications using current technologies and methodologies.
Prerequisite: CSCI 4 (or concurrent enrollment) or CSCI 20 (or concurrent enrollment)
General Education: Area 1A
about Area 1A
English Composition
Baccalaureate-level academic writing — expository and argumentative. The foundation for every other course you'll write in.
General Education: Area 2
about Area 2
Mathematical Concepts and Quantitative Reasoning
College-level mathematics or quantitative reasoning — the toolkit behind science, business, and informed citizenship.
General Education: Area 4
about Area 4
Social and Behavioral Sciences
The systematic study of people as members of society — cultural anthropology, cultural geography, economics, history, political science, psychology, sociology — and the methods these disciplines use to ask their questions.
Graduation Requirement Choice (See GE Guide)
Term 2
Class Schedules
course details
This course is an introduction to the discipline of computer science, with a focus on the design and implementation of algorithms to solve simple problems using a high-level programming language. Topics include fundamental programming constructs, problem-solving strategies, debugging techniques, declaration models, and an overview of procedural and object-oriented programming languages. Students will learn to design, implement, test, and debug algorithms using pseudocode and a high-level programming language. (C-ID COMP 122).
course details
In this course students learn to develop applications for the World Wide Web. Topics include the fundamentals of web server platforms, programming languages for web development, using databases to persist information for a web application, and web application frameworks. Students will design, implement, and deploy a complete web application using a current programming language, database technology, and web server.
Prerequisite: CSCI 31
course details
This course addresses database management, both on-premises and cloud-based, along with different approaches for storing data. In the course, students define, develop, operate, and scale both Structured Query Language (SQL) and noSQL data storage solutions and basic related applications. This course considers strategic, operational, and ethical factors that should be balanced during the design of a storage solution. Students will apply principles using a common Relational Database Management System and SQL to create and fill tables, and to retrieve and manipulate data. Object-based APIs and noSQL solutions will be covered. Topics include automated backups, transaction logs, restoration, and retention. (C-ID ITIS 180).
Prerequisite: CSCI 49
General Education: Area 3
about Area 3
Arts and Humanities
How people and cultures, across time, respond to themselves and the world through artistic and cultural creative production. Visual and performing arts, art history, foreign languages, literature, philosophy, religion.
General Education: Area 6
about Area 6
Ethnic Studies
The histories, experiences, and contributions of the four autonomous disciplines: Black / African American / Africana studies, Native American studies, Chicano/a/x and Latino/a/x studies, and Asian American studies.
Term 3
Class Schedules
course details
This is a software engineering course, focused on the application of software engineering techniques for the design and development of large programs. Topics include data abstraction, data structures and associated algorithms, recursion, declaration models, and garbage collection. Students will learn to design, implement, test, and debug programs using an object-oriented language. (C-ID COMP 132).
Prerequisite: CSCI 20
course details
This course introduces a variety of the tools and concepts used while working with a UNIX/Linux-based computer system. Students will learn to write shell scripts using basic commands and regular expressions. They will then use those tools to write scripts first with basic shell commands, then with grep, sed, and awk, then with more advanced decision-making and flow control commands. Other scripting tools such as Perl and Python will also be explored. Students will write shell script programs to exercise their understanding of tools and concepts. This course will be taught using a combination of lectures, demonstrations, discussions, and hands-on labs. (C-ID ITIS-135).
General Education: Area 1B
about Area 1B
Oral Communication and Critical Thinking
Baccalaureate-level oral communication and/or critical thinking — speaking with structure to a live audience, analyzing arguments, identifying assumptions.
General Education: Area 5
about Area 5
Physical and Biological Sciences
The physical universe, its life forms, and its natural phenomena — astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology, oceanography, physics — taught alongside the scientific method that makes them work.
Elective (any course numbered 1-199 or C1000-C2999)
Only necessary if the 60 units needed to graduate have not been completed. Consider taking a Cal-GETC General Education course. Visit www.assist.org to see options.
Term 4
Class Schedules
course details
This is a capstone programming project course integrating software engineering processes, project management, and computer programming skills. Topics include problem formulation, requirements elicitation, design, tools and frameworks, implementation and testing, version control, integration, and documentation. Emphasis will be placed on teamwork to design, develop, and deliver software projects that solve specific problems.
Prerequisite: CSCI 21
Elective (any course numbered 1-199 or C1000-C2999)
Only necessary if the 60 units needed to graduate have not been completed. Consider taking a Cal-GETC General Education course. Visit www.assist.org to see options.
Career Connections
2-Year Degree Paths
Entry points students may pursue after associate-level study, technical preparation, or licensure pathways.
No locally mapped occupations in the current dataset point cleanly to an immediate 2-year outcome for this program.
4-Year Degree Paths
Roles that more often open up after transfer and a bachelor's degree.
Example roles: 8
- Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
- Software Developers
- Information Security Analysts
Graduate School Paths
Advanced roles commonly associated with graduate, professional, or post-baccalaureate study.
No locally mapped occupations in the current dataset are grouped into the graduate-school pathway for this program.
Local Job Market
Software Quality Assurance Analysts and TestersSOC 15-1253no nearby openings indexed
No nearby openings matched any of: software quality assurance analysts and tester, software quality assurance analyst. Browse this occupation on Adzuna for postings outside the mapped keyword set.
Software DevelopersSOC 15-125213 nearby openings
Top employers in sample
- Bank of America 3
- Genie Healthcare 3
- Superior Court of California, County of Butte 3
- Golden State Farm Credit 1
- Monte Christo Communities 1
Where the postings are
- Chico, Butte County 4
- Pennington, Sutter County 3
- Thermalito, Butte County 2
- Butte Creek, Butte County 1
- Durham, Butte County 1
Sample current postings
Information Security AnalystsSOC 15-12121 nearby opening
Top employers in sample
- DecisionPoint Corporation 1
Where the postings are
- Marysville, Yuba County 1
Sample current postings
Database ArchitectsSOC 15-12436 nearby openings
Top employers in sample
- Oracle 3
- Amazon 1
- Sierra Nevada Company, LLC 1
- Sierra Nevada Corporation 1
Where the postings are
- Sacramento, Sacramento County 4
- Sparks, Washoe County 2
Sample current postings
Computer and Information Systems ManagersSOC 11-30211 nearby opening
Top employers in sample
- Bank of America 1
Where the postings are
- Pennington, Sutter County 1
Sample current postings
Computer and Information Research ScientistsSOC 15-1221no nearby openings indexed
No nearby openings matched any of: computer and information research scientist, information research scientist. Browse this occupation on Adzuna for postings outside the mapped keyword set.
Computer Systems AnalystsSOC 15-12112 nearby openings
Top employers in sample
- Butte-Glenn Community College District 1
- Enloe Health 1
Where the postings are
- Chico, Butte County 1
- Thermalito, Butte County 1
Sample current postings
Computer Network ArchitectsSOC 15-12411 nearby opening
Top employers in sample
- Intel 1
Where the postings are
- Folsom, Sacramento County 1
Sample current postings
Posting counts come from Adzuna's index of US job boards, covering the last up to 90 days within up to 100 miles of ZIP 95965. Coverage and salary visibility vary by employer. Empty searches expand the radius and posting window before the section gives up.
Source Notes
Course sequencing is generated from the Acadia Program Mapper cache. Career groupings use local CIP-to-SOC mappings and BLS occupation data when available. Confirm education plans with Counseling and Advising.
Career Connections shows 8 of 9 occupations mapped by the NCES/IPEDS crosswalk.
Live wage data was not available from the BLS helper for the mapped occupations, so some pay fields may be blank.
Last generated 2026-07-05T16:53+00:00