Determining the Essential Competencies of Software Professionals: A Unified Framework

Abstract

The competencies of software professionals have been under the radar of software engineering research and practice for decades. Different models and frameworks, as well as identification and assessment criteria, have been developed to understand and manage software engineering competencies (SEC). Although research on software engineering competencies is not lacking, there appears to be insufficient measures for stakeholders (software professionals, educators, and the software industry) to identify and assess SEC based on different software development projects. Previous studies have portrayed SEC as static in software projects; thus, their evolution is not covered in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, no holistic software engineering competence model or framework has been presented to identify competencies, competence satisfaction levels, and the essential competencies to be used in different software projects. In light of these observations, we first conducted a mapping study to understand the state of research on SEC, revealing gaps in the knowledge. We then attempted to address some of the gaps by building models and frameworks for managing SEC using findings from the literature and several rounds of stakeholder consultations. Data from interviews with supervisors in software development were used to construct a holistic framework to identify competencies, competence satisfaction levels, and the essential competencies for software projects or software development assignments. The outcome of this dissertation is an in-depth analysis of SEC and frameworks for managing SEC. We identified 62 hard competencies, 63 soft competencies, and a combination of 25 essential SEC competencies. We propose three stakeholder satisfaction levels for SEC assessment: basic, performance, and delighter. The most significant contribution of our study is the holistic SEC framework for both software engineering research and practice. However, based on empirical observations, we also report 27 competencies not mentioned in the reviewed literature, 11 of which are considered essential competencies for software professionals.