What Industry Needs and What We Teach in Information Technology: a Quantitative Study

Abstract

In this survey we investigate the gap between the perception of academia and industry regarding information technology related academic fields. Target population of the survey segmented into three categories: IT professionals, IT Companies, and Academicians. The survey attempts to analyze issues such as IT companies' skill expectations from professionals, content areas emphasized by academic institutions and skills needed by potential IT professionals. The survey was conducted using a Web based questionnaire and is advertised by directly approaching the three stakeholders: software professionals, academicians and employers. Three separate questionnaires were used corresponding to each stakeholder group. The questionnaire is intended to evaluate the technical and non-technical IT skill competences. The competence areas are based on topics from IT profession under three general categories: computer, software and general skills. Questions were prepared after very comprehensive investigation into the current curriculums of computer science, computer and software engineering departments of many different universities and dozens of IT companies from a number of different countries and Software Engineering Body of Knowledge. The questions focus on 71 topics and are organized in 6 categories encompassing a wide variety of skill and knowledge topics. The taxonomy is based on IT technology and IT processes. The results of the survey may help educational institutions to adjust their curriculum and move away from a generic and static curriculum towards a more adaptive one. The results may guide students to take courses more relevant to industry needs and help the teachers to structure their courses and improve teaching methods in order to maximize benefit to the students. The goal is to reduce the knowledge asymmetry in information technology fields so that that the potential graduates feel more prepared for the real world and employers can find ready-for-work employees without incurring extra training or orientation expenses (time and money).