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Director of applications engineering education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a director of applications engineering. Directors of applications engineering usually study electrical engineering, computer science, or mechanical engineering. 77% of directors of applications engineering hold a bachelor's degree, and 13% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 203 real director of applications engineering resumes to see exactly what director of applications engineering education sections show.

The most common colleges for directors of applications engineering are the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

There are also many online director of applications engineering courses to help get the education required to be a director of applications engineering.

What education do you need to become a director of applications engineering?

What degree do you need to be a director of applications engineering?

The most common degree for directors of applications engineering is bachelor's degree, with 77% of directors of applications engineering earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are master's degree degree at 13% and master's degree degree at 4%.
  • Bachelor's, 77%
  • Master's, 13%
  • Doctorate, 4%
  • Associate, 3%
  • Other Degrees, 3%

What should I major in to become a director of applications engineering?

You should major in electrical engineering to become a director of applications engineering. 32% of directors of applications engineering major in electrical engineering. Other common majors for a director of applications engineering include computer science and mechanical engineering.

Most common colleges for directors of applications engineering

Directors of applications engineering often get their degrees at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, San Diego State University, and Santa Clara University. Here are the most common colleges for directors of applications engineering in the US based on their resumes.
Director of applications engineering common collegePercentages
Worcester Polytechnic Institute8.70%
San Diego State University8.70%
Santa Clara University6.52%
Drexel University6.52%
Michigan Technological University4.35%

Best majors for directors of applications engineering

Best colleges for directors of applications engineering

The best colleges for directors of applications engineering are Columbia University in the City of New York, Carnegie Mellon University, and Northwestern University.

A director of applications engineering with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for directors of applications engineering. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become directors of applications engineering.

1. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-state tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

2. Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GA • Private

In-state tuition

$12,424

Enrollment

15,201

3. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

4. University of Washington

Seattle, WA • Private

In-state tuition

$11,207

Enrollment

30,905

5. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

6. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

7. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

8. California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$9,816

Enrollment

21,047

9. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,465

Enrollment

6,483

10. University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX • Private

In-state tuition

$10,610

Enrollment

40,329

20 best online courses for directors of applications engineering

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1. Cloud Application Development Foundations

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2. Developing Applications with Google Cloud

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In this specialization, application developers learn how to design, develop, and deploy applications that seamlessly integrate managed services from Google Cloud. Through a combination of presentations, demos, and hands-on labs, participants learn how to use Google Cloud services and pre-trained machine learning APIs to build secure, scalable, and intelligent cloud-native applications. Learners can choose to complete labs in their favorite language: Node.js, Java, or Python.\n\nThis class is...

3. Certified Secure Web Application Engineer (CSWAE)

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Certified Secure Web Application Engineer (CSWAE)...

4. Secure Programming of Web Applications - Developers and TPMs

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4.3
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Web Application Security for Software Developers and Technical Project Managers...

5. Infrastructure and Application Modernization with Google Cloud

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Many traditional enterprises use legacy systems and applications that often struggle to achieve the scale and speed needed to meet modern customer expectations. Business leaders and IT decision makers constantly have to choose between maintenance of legacy systems and investing in innovative new products and services. This course explores the challenges of an outdated IT infrastructure and how businesses can modernize it using cloud technology. It begins by exploring the different compute...

6. Real-World Engineering Management

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Learn software engineering management using the same practices as Amazon Web Services (AWS), with comparisons to the practices at Google and Microsoft! Gain insights to impress on your first (or next) engineering manager (EM or SDM) role.\n\nLead instructor Nancy Wang, Director of Engineering and Product and General Manager of Data Protection Services at Amazon Web Services, shares the key business, technical, design, and leadership skills necessary for success at engineering manager roles at...

7. Mendix: Low-code Application Development Course

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Learn How to develope Low Code Mobile and Web Applications with Mendix...

8. Customizing AppGini web applications

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Extend what your App Gini web applications can do. Learn the fine details of tailoring the generated code efficiently...

9. Cloud Data Engineering

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Welcome to the third course in the Building Cloud Computing Solutions at Scale Specialization! In this course, you will learn how to apply Data Engineering to real-world projects using the Cloud computing concepts introduced in the first two courses of this series. By the end of this course, you will be able to develop Data Engineering applications and use software development best practices to create data engineering applications. These will include continuous deployment, code quality tools,...

10. Web Application Development: Basic Concepts

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This is the first course in a Coursera Specialization track involving Web Application Architectures. This course will give you the basic background, terminology and fundamental concepts that you need to understand in order to build modern full stack web applications. A full stack web developer is familiar with each "layer" of the software technologies involved in a web application, including data modeling and database technologies, the web server environment and middleware components, network...

11. IT Business Analyst & Project Managers Technical awareness

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A quick introduction to software development & IT for business analyst and non technical managers overseeing IT teams...

12. Product Development & Systems Engineering

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The complete Product Development & Systems Engineering course! Earn 25 contact hours AND prepare to take the INCOSE Exam...

13. Reporting Application Metrics into Cloud Monitoring

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This is a self-paced lab that takes place in the Google Cloud console. In this lab you will run an application on Compute Engine instance and report the application’s metrics into Cloud Monitoring using the OpenCensus library...

14. Developing Applications with Cloud Run on Google Cloud: Fundamentals

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This course introduces the Cloud Run serverless platform for running applications. In this course, you learn about the fundamentals of Cloud Run, its resource model and the container lifecycle. You learn about service identities, how to control access to services, and how to develop and test your application locally before deploying it to Cloud Run. The course also teaches you how to integrate with other services on Google Cloud so you can build full-featured applications...

15. Full Stack Web Application Development with Django Framework

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Develop robust & dynamic web applications using Django, the Python-based web framework. Become Full Stack Web Developer...

16. Learning Pivotal Cloud Foundry for Web Developers

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Become proficient in deploying and managing applications on Cloud Foundry...

17. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Cert: Associate Cloud Engineer

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Develop the skills you need to pass the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Associate Engineer Certification exam!...

18. VPs and Directors of Product Management: Finding Excellence

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Succeeding in an intense, stressful, invigorating job...

19. Reverse Engineering and Exploit Development

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Application Penetration Testing for Security Professionals...

20. Customer Service & Support For Customer Service Executives

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Learn Customer Service Skills & Provide Excellent Customer Support, Customer Experience & How To Manage Upset Customers...

Top 10 most affordable universities for directors of applications engineering

The most affordable schools for directors of applications engineering are United States Merchant Marine Academy, university of florida, and california state university - long beach.

If the best universities for directors of applications engineering are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for directors of applications engineering.

1. United States Merchant Marine Academy

Kings Point, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$1,080

Cost of attendance

6,646

2. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

3. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Cost of attendance

18,306

4. City College of New York of the City University of New York, The

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,140

Cost of attendance

14,430

5. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Cost of attendance

16,714

6. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Socorro, NM • Private

In-state tuition

$7,770

Cost of attendance

21,244

7. University of South Florida

Tampa, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,410

Cost of attendance

20,456

8. Florida International University

Miami, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,556

Cost of attendance

19,434

9. California State University - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,749

Cost of attendance

14,823

10. University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez

Mayaguez, PR • Private

In-state tuition

$4,094

Cost of attendance

14,302

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for directors of applications engineering

The hardest universities for directors of applications engineering to get into are Columbia University in the City of New York, Carnegie Mellon University, and Northwestern University.

Some great schools for directors of applications engineering are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for directors of applications engineering based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

6%

SAT average

1,512

2. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

17%

SAT average

1,507

3. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,508

4. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,492

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA • Private

Admissions rate

7%

SAT average

1,545

6. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

7. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,471

8. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

Admissions rate

4%

SAT average

1,497

9. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

Admissions rate

5%

SAT average

1,520

10. Washington University in St Louis

Saint Louis, MO • Private

Admissions rate

15%

SAT average

1,506

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for directors of applications engineering

The easiest schools for directors of applications engineering to get into are Texas A&M; University - Kingsville, the university of texas permian basin, and the university of texas at el paso.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a director of applications engineering without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for directors of applications engineering.

1. Texas A&M University - Kingsville

Kingsville, TX • Private

Admissions rate

89%

SAT average

1,035

2. The University of Texas Permian Basin

Odessa, TX • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,046

3. The University of Texas at El Paso

El Paso, TX • Private

Admissions rate

100%

SAT average

1,035

4. Barry University

Miami, FL • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,006

5. Pennsylvania State University - Fayette (The Eberly Campus)

Lemont Furnace, PA • Private

Admissions rate

80%

SAT average

1,067

6. Pennsylvania State University - DuBois

DuBois, PA • Private

Admissions rate

85%

SAT average

1,079

7. Oregon Institute of Technology

Klamath Falls, OR • Private

Admissions rate

96%

SAT average

1,139

8. University of the Incarnate Word

San Antonio, TX • Private

Admissions rate

88%

SAT average

1,044

9. Saint Martin's University

Lacey, WA • Private

Admissions rate

96%

SAT average

1,111

10. Capitol Technology University

Laurel, MD • Private

Admissions rate

69%

SAT average

1,070

Average director of applications engineering salary by education level

Directors of applications engineering with a Doctorate degree earn more than those without, at $196,294 annually. With a Master's degree, directors of applications engineering earn a median annual income of $180,405 compared to $167,145 for directors of applications engineering with an Bachelor's degree.
Director of applications engineering education levelDirector of applications engineering salary
Master's Degree$180,405
Bachelor's Degree$167,145
Doctorate Degree$196,294

Director of applications engineering education FAQs

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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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