Background
The quality of relevant IT education has lagged behind. IT sector is unable to find fresh software engineers with appropriate education and training standards. Most come from ill equipped institutes that lure students, with no or little aptitude for software, who become misfits in industry.
We at WA face this problem every day. We train engineers looking out for a break in the industry, we enable. We invest in their training and growth as IT professionals in the hope that they’ll serve the company for a long time. But there seem to be some ethical issues out there wherein break seekers turn into commitment breakers. In many other cases the quality remains below par.
This article attempts to open a debate in establishing a definition of software profession and what we look for in software developers.
Defining Software Profession
Software profession is about
- problem solving
- solution providing rather than mere programming
- collaboration and team working
- the ability to move between technology and domain spectrums
- the ability to analyse along with ability to synthesise
- the ability to communicate verbally and in writing
- ethics, tolerance, patience and perseverance
- the ability to relate
Attributes of Software Professional at Entry Level
So what attributes do we seek in software professionals? Considering that the above definition describes the software profession to a large extent, we can derive a set of attributes for entry level software professional that will grow with experience and they also acquire new skills and attributes. I would like to essentially look for the following essential abilities in software professional. The acceptable level of each attribute on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high) is indicated in brackets against the attribute.
- Analytical and logical thinking leading to problem solving (6)
- Team working – We vs. Me, Us vs. I, (8)
- Commitment (8)
- Organisation fit – openness, ethics and perseverance (8)
- Learnability and short learning cycles (7)
- Fundamental technical knowledge at conceptual level (5)
- Oral and written communications (5)
- Relating to real world problems (5)
- Abstraction capabilities (6)
- Soft skills (5)
- Reading habit (7)
- Career orientation (7)
- Ability to deal with variety and change (7)
Let us exchange views and define a set of attributes and values for WAites.
#1 by yogita - December 20th, 2007 at 12:58
I personally think that the attributes can be
confidence,
smartness (decision making ability) and
positive attitude
#2 by Jiten - December 21st, 2007 at 11:03
I think that candidate should have
done a project (in college/ institute) in any of
the technology whether its a small project big project.
#3 by dileep.gupta - December 21st, 2007 at 11:35
I think candidate should have problem solving approach.
approach is always important in any type of prolem solving.
So, if candidate have some/little or good project/training experience then we can say that at least he will go with some proper approach to solve the problem.
Other attributes are also important in candidate like:
positive attitude, team player & confidence.
#4 by Abhishek Shaligram - December 31st, 2007 at 18:43
I think the candidate should have confidence in his speech,should have quick decision making ability,should have positive attitude and should be a team player.
#5 by kiran - January 4th, 2008 at 16:38
I think, Self motivation is very important ….
If it is …. every thing is possible…
#6 by Bipin - January 7th, 2008 at 11:14
Hi Kiran, Abhishek, Dileep, Jiten and Yogita,
Thanks for the inputs. Let me answer all your inuts together.
I agree with Kiran 100%. With Self Motivation one can do just about anything. So how do you know during the selection whether a person is self motivated or not. Well that is another subject of long debate. You can take some inferences from the way a person talks and body language but these are only inferences.
You have talked about confidence/smartness etc. To what degree these should determine the selection of an individual. A real creative person may not be smart enough or may be an introvert thereby reflecting a lack of confidence.
If you could also indicate the degree to which each of the factors mentioned by you should matter in selection process, it would help. Also I would welcome any suggestion on how should one go about assessing these factotrs.