Investigating the skill gap between graduating students and industry expectations

Abstract

Graduating computer science and software engineering students do not always possess the necessary skills, abilities, or knowledge when beginning their careers in the software industry. The lack of these skills and abilities can limit the productivity of newly hired, recent graduates, or even prevent them from gaining employment. This paper presents the results of an empirical study where twenty-three managers and hiring personnel from various software companies in the United States and Europe were interviewed. Participants were asked about areas where recent graduates frequently struggled when beginning employment at their companies and which skill deficiencies might prevent a recent graduate from being hired. The results of this study indicate that recent graduates struggle with using configuration management systems (and other software tools), effectively communicating with co-workers and customers, producing unit tests for their code, and other skills or abilities. The results also indicate that a lack of project experience and problem solving abilities are the most commonly cited issues preventing students from gaining employment. This research is intended to assist educators in identifying areas where students may not measure up the expectations of industry companies and in improving the curriculum at their universities to better prepare them for their future careers.

Exploring the importance of soft and hard skills as perceived by IT internship students and industry: A gap analysis

“…The supposed "soft skills" have typically been important to the students and industry partners confirming research of Williams (2015); Radermacher et al (2014);Noll and Wilkins (2002), Scott et al (2002). The identified skills should incorporate the in the curriculum matrix, the course and program requirements that would be developed... Table 4 presents the perceptions of the industry partners and IT students on the importance of hard Skills in the industry the different hard skills that should be developed by IT students during their internship.…”

“…In a congruent study conducted by Radermacher, Walia and Knudson (2014) which intended to assist educators in identifying areas where students may not measure up the expectations of industry companies and in improving the curriculum at their universities to better prepare them for their future careers. In this study, the respondents were asked questions about what particular skills where recent graduates frequently struggled when they started their employment at their companies and which particular skill deficiencies might prevent a recent graduate from being hired.…”

“…In addition, a professional development training program where proposed to help students enhance their soft skills before entering their future careers. Another study by Radermacher et al (2014) indicated that recent graduates struggle communicating with co-workers and customers. Therefore, their study proposed that that the academic community should make sure that students will have effective problem solving and effective communication skills.…”

What Makes a Great Software Engineer?

“…Using findings from their 2013 survey, Radermacher et al interviewed 23 managers and hiring professionals from companies that work with North Dakota State University's capstone project to understand the knowledge deficiencies that prevented graduates from being hired (authors designate as interview) and issue/problems commonly encountered by new graduates (authors designate as job) (Radermacher, Walia, & Knudson, 2014). The authors used the topics from their literature review.…”

Help-Seeking Among Undergraduate Men and Women in Engineering

“…For instance, changing the culture of high-risk organizations to encourage employees to ask questions and admit mistakes results in fewer accidents and higher productivity [7]. Moreover, college graduates rarely possess all the skills needed to be successful in their new jobs [8], [9].…”