MSSM Program Details:
16 Month Format
Take your studies a step further and gain hands-on experience at an internship in the software industry.
The 16-month program allows more experienced professionals to advance their careers while providing a gateway to the software industry for new technologists or those ready to pivot careers.
Program Features:
- 16 months (August-December), with summer internship & additional fall semester
- Ideal for candidates seeking more professional experience or to pivot careers
Curriculum & Course Preview
Curriculum Requirements
The 16 month program curriculum requires students to complete a minimum of 144 units of course work over three semesters and a summer: Fall, Spring & Fall, plus a summer internship.
- Only two-12 unit mini courses may be completed at one time due to the high time commitment required for each.
- Students must have a minimum QPA of 3.0 to graduate.
- For additional details regarding degree requirements, review our full Graduate Student Handbook.
You will complete courses in the following areas:
User-Centered Methods for Product Innovation
Software Product Definition
Requirements Analysis
Product Definition & Validation
Enterprise Innovation
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Integrated Innovation for Large Scale Problems
Foundations of Software Management
Product Management & Software Product Strategy
The Business of Software
Agile Marketing for High Tech Innovation
Organizational Behavior for High Tech Knowledge Industry
Finance for Entrepreneurial Ventures
Metrics for Software Managers
Process & Project Management
Commercializing IP
Human-Computer Interaction & User Experience Design for Managers
Data Analytics
Open Source Software
Intro to Cloud Computing
Architecture & Programming Principles
Mobile Apps for the Internet of Things
Architecture Principles for Product Managers
Practical Experience: Summer Internships
All 16 month MSSM students complete a summer internship to put their skills learned to use in a practical, hands-on setting. Students often land internships at companies like Salesforce, Google, Amazon, and more.
Pranathi Alla
MSSM '22
Product Management Intern, Salesforce
During my internship, I worked on a project on bringing visibility and remediation to external vulnerabilities. It was a communication-heavy project where a large chunk of the work was related to talking to stakeholders and gleaning information to take it forward. I was humbled by the value of being a good communicator as a product manager and the details it takes to be one.
Sukarma Parimoo
MSSM '22
Product Manager Intern, TuSimple
During my internship, I worked on two map projects, and my day involved meeting with my users, designers, and developers. I would also work on a lot of documentation, creating reports, PRDs, and user stories. There was a weekly team meeting where I would present my accomplishments from the current week and my plans for the next week. My favorite part of the internship was riding in autonomous trucks in Tucson. It was exciting to learn and work on futuristic technology! My favorite project I worked on during my internship was to create a data visualization dashboard for the Maps Operation team. It was my first project where I interacted with different teams to conceptualize the product.
Yiyuan Zhu
MSSM '22
Software Engineering Intern, Youtube
During the 3-month internship, I finished a project which focused on improving the YouTube user experience. I broke down the project into different milestones and mapped the tasks to my daily work.
My favorite part of the internship was the project I worked on. I was able to roll it out to production, meaning that billions of YouTube users would benefit from the feature I developed.
Application Deadline for Fall 2025
Featured Course
Software Management Practicum
Apply the lessons of software management to real-world projects at leading companies.
You'll act as a consultant to companies on complex software problems, working as a team to develop a project plan and detailed statement of work. At the end of the semester, you’ll present your solution to your clients.
The MSSM Experience: In Their Own Words
Sneha Kedlaya & Chithroobeni Shankar (MSSM '15) joined the 16 month MSSM program looking to launch a career in product management— mission accomplished. The internship experience, rigorous curriculum and diverse backgrounds of their peers prepared them for their current roles as product managers.