research-article

Identifying Non-Technical Skill Gaps in Software Engineering Education: What Experts Expect But Students Don’t Learn

Authors:

Wouter Groeneveld,

Joost Vennekens,

Kris AertsAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), Volume 22, Issue 1

Article No.: 1, Pages 1 - 21

https://doi.org/10.1145/3464431

Published: 18 October 2021 Publication History

Abstract

As the importance of non-technical skills in the software engineering industry increases, the skill sets of graduates match less and less with industry expectations. A growing body of research exists that attempts to identify this skill gap. However, only few so far explicitly compare opinions of the industry with what is currently being taught in academia. By aggregating data from three previous works, we identify the three biggest non-technical skill gaps between industry and academia for the field of software engineering: devoting oneself to continuous learning, being creative by approaching a problem from different angles, and thinking in a solution-oriented way by favoring outcome over ego. Eight follow-up interviews were conducted to further explore how the industry perceives these skill gaps, yielding 26 sub-themes grouped into six bigger themes: stimulating continuous learning, stimulating creativity, creative techniques, addressing the gap in education, skill requirements in industry, and the industry selection process. With this work, we hope to inspire educators to give the necessary attention to the uncovered skills, further mitigating the gap between the industry and the academic world.

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Garcia RCsizmadia APearce JAlshaigy BGlebova OHarrington BLiaskos KLunn SMackellar BNasir UPettit RSchulz SStewart CZavaleta Bernuy AMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2025)An International Examination of Non-Technical Skills and Professional Dispositions in Computing -- Identifying the Present Day Academia-Industry Gap2024 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3689187.3709610(124-174)Online publication date: 22-Jan-2025
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Le TZhang JChen JZhao Y(2024)Analysis of Relationships Between Business Domains and Technical-Skill Requirements for Data AnalystsJournal of Global Information Management10.4018/JGIM.35727632:1(1-20)Online publication date: 7-Nov-2024
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Index Terms

Identifying Non-Technical Skill Gaps in Software Engineering Education: What Experts Expect But Students Don’t Learn
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Collaboration in software development

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Computing Education

ACM Transactions on Computing Education Volume 22, Issue 1

March 2022

258 pages

EISSN:1946-6226

DOI:10.1145/3487993

Editor:
Amy J. Ko
University of Washington, USA

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Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 18 October 2021

Accepted: 01 May 2021

Revised: 01 May 2021

Received: 01 July 2020

Published in TOCE Volume 22, Issue 1

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Cited By

Babb JYates DWaguespack L(2025)On Becoming: Why Disposition Distinguishes Information Systems Education from Training. A Commentary on Model CurriculaInformation Systems Education Journal10.62273/JRSO915823:1(70-93)Online publication date: 2025
https://doi.org/10.62273/JRSO9158
Garcia RCsizmadia APearce JAlshaigy BGlebova OHarrington BLiaskos KLunn SMackellar BNasir UPettit RSchulz SStewart CZavaleta Bernuy AMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2025)An International Examination of Non-Technical Skills and Professional Dispositions in Computing -- Identifying the Present Day Academia-Industry Gap2024 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3689187.3709610(124-174)Online publication date: 22-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689187.3709610
Le TZhang JChen JZhao Y(2024)Analysis of Relationships Between Business Domains and Technical-Skill Requirements for Data AnalystsJournal of Global Information Management10.4018/JGIM.35727632:1(1-20)Online publication date: 7-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.4018/JGIM.357276
Gruber SGovan GBrown CJoyner DKim MWang XXia M(2024)Exploring Disparities in Student and Practitioner Perceptions of Skill Proficiency with SE Gap AwarenessProceedings of the Eleventh ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale10.1145/3657604.3664684(274-278)Online publication date: 9-Jul-2024
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Aerts KLuyten KThoelen RVanacken D(2024)Conception, Approval and First Evaluation of a New Master’s Program Engineering Technology: Software Systems (Informatics) in Belgium2024 47th MIPRO ICT and Electronics Convention (MIPRO)10.1109/MIPRO60963.2024.10569167(1238-1243)Online publication date: 20-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/MIPRO60963.2024.10569167
De Silva DHuijser HCunningham SPress N(2024)Essential Professional Skills and Competencies for Future Information Technology Graduates: Meeting IT Industry Demands2024 International Conference on Engineering Management of Communication and Technology (EMCTECH)10.1109/EMCTECH63049.2024.10741786(1-8)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2024
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Li, JChan ACampbell CMarzi EMoore, E(2023)Examining Leadership within the Unique Context of Engineering Consulting2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings10.18260/1-2--44639Online publication date: Jul-2023
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Terragni VWatson CRowe NGiacaman N(2023)Fostering Professionalism in Software Engineering: An Early-Exposure ApproachIEEE Software10.1109/MS.2023.329171140:6(47-54)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2023
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Schatz HBecerril Reyes ABest ABrown EChatziioannou KChipps KDeibel CEzzeddine RGalloway DHansen CHerwig FJi ALugaro MMeisel ZNorman DRead JRoberts LSpyrou ATews ITimmes FTravaglio CVassh NAbia CAdsley PAgarwal SAliotta MAoki WArcones AAryan ABandyopadhyay ABanu ABardayan DBarnes JBauswein ABeers TBishop JBoztepe TCôté BCaplan MChampagne AClark JCouder MCouture Ade Mink SDebnath SdeBoer Rden Hartogh JDenissenkov PDexheimer VDillmann IEscher JFamiano MFarmer RFisher RFröhlich CFrebel AFryer CFuller GGanguly AGhosh SGibson BGorda TGourgouliatos KGraber VGupta MHaxton WHeger AHix WHo WHolmbeck EHood AHuth SImbriani GIzzard RJain RJayatissa HJohnston ZKajino TKankainen AKiss GKwiatkowski ALa Cognata MLaird ALamia LLandry PLaplace ELauney KLeahy DLeckenby GLennarz ALongfellow BLovell ALynch WLyons SMaeda KMasha EMatei CMerc JMesser BMontes FMukherjee AMumpower MNeto DNevins BNewton WNguyen LNishikawa KNishimura NNunes FO’Connor EO’Shea BOng WPain SPajkos MPignatari MPizzone RPlacco VPlewa TPritychenko BPsaltis APuentes DQian YRadice DRapagnani DRebeiro BReifarth RRichard ARijal NRoederer IRojo JJ S K Saito YSchwenk ASergi MSidhu RSimon ASivarani TSkúladóttir ÁSmith MSpiridon ASprouse TStarrfield SSteiner AStrieder FSultana ISurman RSzücs TTawfik AThielemann FTrache LTrappitsch RTsang MTumino AUpadhyayula SValle Martínez JVan der Swaelmen MViscasillas Vázquez CWatts AWehmeyer BWiescher MWrede CYoon JZegers RZermane MZingale M(2022)Horizons: nuclear astrophysics in the 2020s and beyondJournal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics10.1088/1361-6471/ac889049:11(110502)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2022
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