How to Develop Competencies and Abilities Professional in Software Engineering in Undergraduate Students? POSITION PAPER Carlos S. Portela, Alexandre M. L. Vasconcelos Informatics Center (CIn) Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) Recife, Brazil {csp3, amlv}@cin.ufpe.br Sandro R. B. Oliveira Postgraduate Program (PPGCC) Federal University of Pará (UFPA) Belém, Brazil srbo@ufpa.br Abstract—How many Software Engineering (SE) topics are seen during undergraduate courses? How many of these are relevant for the professionals in the area? We are analyzing the amount and relevance of Software Engineering topics recommended by the curriculum guidelines of ACM/IEEE and of the Brazilian Society of Computer (SBC). In addition, we intend to analyze the effectiveness of these SE topics through surveys with students, professors and software professionals of universities and companies in Brazil. The partial results of this research suggest that some SE topics may be under-addressed insufficiently, while others may be less relevant to the undergraduate curriculum. Finally, we discuss about how apply less topics in order to form students with more competencies and abilities professional. Index Terms—Software Engineering Topics, Teaching Methods, Preparing Graduates for Industry. I. INTRODUCTION The Software Engineering (SE) is one of the discipline of greatest importance in courses in the field of computing [1]. This arises from both the relevance of the software itself and the challenges related to the complete formation of a professional who will work in software industry. The result is an increase in demand by well-qualified software professionals [2]. Typically, these professionals learn in undergraduate courses as a way of preparing to the industry [3]. A. Identification of the Issue The software industry, specifically the Brazilian market, has shortage of suitably qualified professionals to work in professions that involve stages of the software development process [4]. The industry complains that undergraduate courses do not teach the necessary skills to students so they can start performing your job efficiently [5]. In this way, software companies have to complement the knowledge of recent graduates with training and have to provide skills related to software development process [6]. According to Lethbridge et al. [7], this deficiency in the formation of graduates in the SE area is the result of an inadequate education. There are several difficulties in the SE education during the undergraduate [8][9][10]: (i) very content taught in a short time; (ii) low motivation students have to study the SE theoretical concepts; (iii) difficulties in preparing students for professional practice within academic environment. B. Statement of the Position We identify that the professional training needs of undergraduate and software industry are similar as well as difficulties encountered in this education process (excess content, short time, etc.). Then, we research as the industry performs the training of professionals. In Brazil, many software companies have adopted quality models such as CMMI-DEV [11] and MR-MPS-SW [12]. Most of the companies achieves this through adoption of Software Process Improvement (SPI) programs implemented by consulting companies. During these consultations, the consultants have observed that spend much of time and financial resources in team training. This is because many professionals involved in SPI programs do not have adequate knowledge on particular SE topics [13]. Thus, the SPI consultants adopt various training strategies such as workshops, mentoring or coaching for technical transfer of the specific practices included in process areas (eg. Configuration Management) in order to develop the competencies and abilities necessary for the team. Based on these observations and based on our professional experience, as SPI consultants and SE professors, we have the following position about the issue of Software Engineering Teaching in undergraduate courses: POSITION: If the Software Engineering discipline adopt training approaches of Software Process Improvement programs, then the preparation of students to the software industry will be more appropriate than the current teaching approaches. Int'l Conf. Frontiers in Education: CS and CE | FECS'15 | 91