Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Can I take the course for free?

No, you cannot take this course for free. When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. If you cannot afford the fee, you can apply for financial aid.

Will I earn university credit for completing the Specialization?

This Specialization doesn't carry university credit, but some universities may choose to accept Specialization Certificates for credit. Check with your institution to learn more.

Software Development Lifecycle Specialization

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Software Development Lifecycle Specialization

Launch Your Career in Software Development. Master techniques and best practices for traditional and agile software project management.

Instructors: Kevin Wendt

73,516 already enrolled

Included with Coursera Plus

Learn more

4 course series

Get in-depth knowledge of a subject

4.7

(2,442 reviews)

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

2 months at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Earn a career credential

Share your expertise with employers

4 course series

Get in-depth knowledge of a subject

4.7

(2,442 reviews)

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

2 months at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Earn a career credential

Share your expertise with employers

What you'll learn

Critically analyze software engineering development processes from our four selected development philosophies (traditional, secure, agile, and lean)
Describe the trade-offs among the philosophies with respect to environmental, organizational, and product constraints
Discuss the workings of exemplary processes within each of the given philosophies
Perform activities within each of the four aforementioned philosophies and explain how they satisfy the principles of the given philosophy

Overview

This Specialization is designed for people who are new to software engineering. It's also for those who have already developed software, but wish to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying context and theory of software development practices.

At the end of this Specialization, we expect learners to be able to:

1.) Build high-quality and secure software using SDLC methodologies such as agile, lean, and traditional/waterfall.

2.) Analyze a software development team's SDLC methodology and make recommendations for improvements.

3.) Compare and contrast software development methodologies with respect to environmental, organizational, and product constraints.

What’s included

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Taught in English

49 practice exercises

Advance your subject-matter expertise

Learn in-demand skills from university and industry experts
Master a subject or tool with hands-on projects
Develop a deep understanding of key concepts
Earn a career certificate from University of Minnesota

Specialization - 4 course series

To cement the theoretical concept into solid learning, learners will be given multiple fictional case studies where learners will be asked to make decisions like what methodology will you choose, what practices/processes will you use and why? These projects will help learners apply the concepts into practice.

In agile course, learners will be asked to create a story map for a given situation, and make a case for agile methodology.

In lean course, learners will be asked to create a value stream map and use design thinking to a ficticious case study

All of the projects will be peer reviewed.

Software Development Processes and Methodologies

Course 120 hours4.7 (2,105 ratings)View course

What you'll learn

Software is quickly becoming integral part of human life as we see more and more automation and technical advancements. Just like we expect car to work all the time and can't afford to break or reboot unexpectedly, software industry needs to continue to learn better way to build software if it were to become integral part of human life.

In this course, you will get an overview of how software teams work? What processes they use? What are some of the industry standard methodologies? What are pros and cons of each? You will learn enough to have meaningful conversation around software development processes. After completing this course, a learner will be able to 1) Apply core software engineering practices at conceptual level for a given problem. 2) Compare and contrast traditional, agile, and lean development methodologies at high level. These include Waterfall, Rational Unified Process, V model, Incremental, Spiral models and overview of agile mindset 3) Propose a methodology best suited for a given situation

Skills you'll gain

Category: Agile Methodology

Category: Software Architecture

Category: Agile Software Development

Category: Scrum (Software Development)

Category: Software Testing

Category: Software Development Methodologies

Category: Software Development Life Cycle

Category: Waterfall Methodology

Category: Verification And Validation

Category: Software Design

Category: Requirements Analysis

Category: Software Engineering

Category: Application Deployment

Category: Release Management

Category: System Requirements

Category: Development Testing

Category: User Requirements Documents

Category: Maintainability

Category: Process Driven Development

Category: Systems Development

Agile Software Development

Course 212 hours4.7 (7,440 ratings)View course

What you'll learn

Software industry is going crazy on agile methods. It is rapidly becoming the choice for software development where requirements are unpredictable or is expected to change over time. This course will help you gain knowledge on what is agile? Why agile is better suited for these situations? We will also cover some of the most common agile frameworks like scrum and XP in depth.

Prerequisite: You need basic knowledge of software development process and software development methodologies. After completing this course, you will be able to : 1) Demonstrate the ability to participate effectively in agile practices/process for software development. 2) Explain the purpose behind common agile practices. 3) Ability to apply agile principles and values to a given situation. 4) Ability to identify and address most common problems encountered in adopting Agile methods. Project: You will also be given opportunity to apply what you learn in this course. You will be given fictional case studies, where after studying the case study, you will have to exercise some of the practices, techniques, etc that team members of an agile team members are expected to know.

Skills you'll gain

Category: Agile Software Development

Category: Agile Methodology

Category: Scrum (Software Development)

Category: Test Driven Development (TDD)

Category: Sprint Retrospectives

Category: User Story

Category: Sprint Planning

Category: Continuous Integration

Category: Agile Project Management

Category: Backlogs

Category: Software Development Methodologies

Lean Software Development

Course 310 hours4.6 (423 ratings)View course

What you'll learn

While scrum and XP were transforming the software development industry, there were another set of ideas (derived from lean manufacturing and Six Sigma) that started to influence software development methods. These ideas around Lean Software Development forms the foundation of number of agile methods.

In this course, we will explore lean concepts and cover some of the common Lean methods and techniques like Kanban, Value Stream Mapping, etc. In this course, we will also learn techniques like Lean Startup and Design Thinking that can help team learn about user and market needs much faster and cheaper. As part of this course, you will also apply the knowledge gained in this course to fictional case studies. These projects will help you gain experience to confidently apply these techniques in real world. At the end of the course, you will be able to apply lean techniques / methods to software development. You will also be able to apply methods to learn about your users and market needs much faster and cheaper.

Skills you'll gain

Category: Lean Methodologies

Category: Process Improvement

Category: Innovation

Category: Kanban Principles

Category: Design Thinking

Category: Software Development Methodologies

Category: Prototyping

Category: Lean Manufacturing

Category: Lean Six Sigma

Category: Process Mapping

Category: Software Development

Category: Agile Software Development

Category: Continuous Improvement Process

Category: Product Development

Category: User Experience Design

Engineering Practices for Building Quality Software

Course 417 hours4.5 (448 ratings)View course

What you'll learn

You will learn how to quantiatively measure design quality attributes.
You will establish feasible and testable scenarios for evaluating quality attributes in software architecture.
You will develop skills to ensure quality in developing code beyond correct functionality alone.
You will understand quality approaches to post-development stages of the lifecycle.

Skills you'll gain

Category: Continuous Integration

Category: Version Control

Category: Software Design

Category: Software Design Patterns

Category: Threat Modeling

Category: Object Oriented Design

Category: Software Quality (SQA/SQC)

Category: Code Review

Category: Software Testing

Category: CI/CD

Category: Development Testing

Category: Maintainability

Category: Software Architecture

Category: Software Quality Assurance

Category: Application Security

Category: Software Engineering

Category: Software Documentation

Category: Software Technical Review

Earn a career certificate

Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV. Share it on social media and in your performance review.

Instructors

Kevin Wendt

University of Minnesota

6 Courses248,227 learners

Praveen Mittal

University of Minnesota

4 Courses287,726 learners

Offered by

University of Minnesota

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Frequently asked questions

This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.

If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.

Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.