Building the Professional Competence of Future Programmers Using Methods and Tools of Flexible Development of Software Applications

Abstract

To support their professional expertise, a modern programmer must constantly follow new technologies, learn new methods of solving problems (best practices), exchange experience, use auxiliary tools that accelerate the development process, should be able to work in a team and develop their knowledge and skills. The task of modern IT education is to meet the demands of the information technology market. Specialists should be provided with proper training, which will give them relevant professional competences. The present paper analyzes modern methodologies of flexible software development and tools, defines professional competences related to software development based on the standard of higher education for the specialists of the Bachelor’s academic level in Software engineering specialty. The novelty of the research lies in the justification of the competency-based approach to the training of future programmers. This approach involves the use of methods and tools for flexible development of software applications in three stages of project tasks of different types and complexity, which are formed in accordance with certain professional competencies. At Phase 1, students studied flexible methodologies and tools for developing software applications in the Software Design academic discipline. In Phase 2, flexible methodologies and software development tools were used during academic and technological practical training, in particular, students performed a group project according to the Scrum methodology, using Kanban approaches. In Phase 3, students worked individually on the Bachelor’s thesis under the guidance of a teacher. The article describes the organization of the work process on the principles of flexible development and flexible learning, presents the results of experimental research, which showed an increase in the level of professional competencies in software development. A statistical analysis of the results of the experiment has been carried out and their significance has been proved.

Development of Soft Skills in Computer Science Bachelors in the Project Learning Process

“…Modern programming is collective, and the usefulness of an individual IT specialist is closely related to their usefulness for the entire team, therefore it requires teamwork, leadership skills, certain knowledge of psychology and management [9]. R. Lavi, M. Tal, Y. Dori [10] in their study identify 14 skills needed by specialists in the 21st century, such as the ability to learn individually, the ability to solve problems, critical thinking skills, the ability to think systematically, skills of experimentation and testing, ability to cooperate, skills of written, oral and intercultural communication and others. In their work, researchers propose to form these skills using active learning methods, in particular, the method of project-based learning, which focuses on interaction and solving real problems.…”