An International Examination of Non-Technical Skills and Professional Dispositions in Computing - Identifying the Present Day Academia-Industry GapShow others and affiliations
2025 (English)In: 2024 Working group reports on innovation and technology in computer science education, ITICSE WGR 2024, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2025, p. 124-174Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Computing graduates are frequently reported by members of industry to lack in professional dispositions and/or non-technical skills (often referred to as "soft skills"). In this work, we conduct a gap analysis of the alignment between academic preparation and industry expectations through a three-pronged study. First, a literature review explored the academic perspective of how fostering professional dispositions and non-technical skills occurs in tertiary computing education. Second, a literature review identifying industry's expectations of those dispositions and skills for entry-level computing professionals. Finally, a mixed-methods approach, combining a survey and structured interviews of computing industry professionals to identify their opinions on the relative importance of those skills and dispositions. In each of these prongs, we additionally consider whether and how Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) may have been approached and/or incorporated. Our work uncovers a number of gaps. Several skills and dispositions, such as leadership, ethics, and inventiveness, are over-represented in the academic literature compared to industry's expectations, while others such as lifelong learning and professionalism are under-emphasised. Furthermore, some terms such as 'ethics' and 'professionalism' are defined differently by various stakeholder groups, leading to a gap between academic training and industry expectations. Finally, several skills and dispositions, such as collaboration, teamwork, communication, and leadership show evidence of exposure in academia, but require more scaffolded instruction to meet industry expectations. We also found a dearth of coverage in the literature and a lack of focus in industry for DEIA considerations.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2025. p. 124-174
Series
Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, ITiCSE, ISSN 1942-647X
Keywords [en]
accessibility, DEIA, diversity, E&I, EDI, equity, inclusion, industry expectations, non-technical skills, professional dispositions, professionalism, Ethical aspects, Academic industry, Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, Industry expectation, Professional disposition
National Category
Pedagogy Software Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:bth-27598DOI: 10.1145/3689187.3709610ISI: 001447740200005Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85219518165ISBN: 9798400712081 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:bth-27598DiVA, id: diva2:1944479
Conference
29th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE), Milan, July 8-10, 2024
2025-03-142025-03-142025-09-30Bibliographically approved