A NOTE ON THE QUANTIFICATION OF COMPUTER-PROGRAMMING SKILL

There are sound reasons for believing that expertise in computer progr amming consists of two components, which should both be of interest to employers. Time-based expertise corresponds to the conventional notio n of expertise, and is a function solely of the time spent programming . Multiskilling expertise, by contrast, accrues through exposure to a varietye of programming languages and tasks, and is related to the cog nitive development of high-level programming schemata. This multidimen sional model was tested by developing measures to quantify the diversi ty of programming language usage and the diversity of programming task s, and then assessing programming skill in 206 computer programmers. A s predicted, factor analysis identified two underlying factors. The ac tual amount of time spent programming and the time since first learnin g to program loaded highly on one factor (''time-based skill''), while the number of languages known, the diversity of language usage, and t he diversity of programming tasks loaded highly on the second factor ( ''multiskilling''). The data also revealed that programmers tend not t o keep abreast of new developments in their field. Thus, many programm ers who are ''expert'' in the time-based sense risk obsolescence due t o a lack of multiskilling expertise.