Identifying Essential Competencies of Software Engineers

The knowledge and skills of software engineers are perhaps the most important factors in determining the success of software development. Thus, we seek to identify the professional competencies that are most essential. In the rst phase of our research, we use the Critical Incident Interview technique to identify essential competencies. The Critical Incident Interview technique is a rigorous method for determining critical job requirements from structured interviews with workers. We use this technique in an in-depth review of 20 professional software engineers employed by a major computer rm. Our review includes an evaluation of biographical and Critical Incidence Interview data for 10 exceptional and 10 non-exceptional subjects. We also analyze competencies identi ed by software managers. We identify 38 essential competencies of software engineers. Di erences between exceptional and non-exceptional subjects were not expected in this rst phase of our research. We studied exceptional an...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1994
• Where: ACM
• Authors: Richard T. Turley, James M. Bieman
• Keywords: ACM 1994, Critical Incident Interview, Incident Interview Technique, Software Engineers, Theoretical Computer Science