AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY OF SKILLS ASSESSMENT FOR SOFTWARE PRACTITIONERS

Software professionals face the difficult challenge of keeping up with today's fast-paced technological environment. There has been much dis cussion about technical obsolescence in a field where the half-life of an undergraduate education is only a few years. Moreover, assessments provide measurable proof of behavioral changes, legitimizing the huma n resource department's role in improving productivity by rendering it quantifiable. In this paper, we describe an empirical study of the sk ills assessment of software practitioners. This study is based on a su rvey performed collaboratively by the Software Engineering Research Ce nter (SERC), Purdue University, and IBM Training and Education, with d irect participation from the IEEE. The goal of this research was the d etermination of the critical skills necessary for software professiona ls. This paper describes the survey, the structure of the questionnair e, and the skills assessment process. Skills assessment stages such as data collection, data analysis, data representation, and follow-up re assessment are also described. Detailed results of the survey and sele cted critical skills relating to both object-oriented and client-serve r technologies are presented in this paper. These assessments provide a systematic approach through which human resources departments can im prove productivity during downturns by increasing the working effectiv eness of software developers. We believe that university software engi neering students must understand the differences between academic prog ramming and industry software development and engineering. They must a lso be able to perform the activities involved with plan development, project management, and software product evaluation. We also conclude that these assessments will foster genuine commitment and motivate sof tware practitioners to grow in a field of technology that changes dail y.