There has been renewed discussion of another round of curriculum review. If we are to review the PSD degree what should we change? What should the aims of the degree be?
I think we need to build good basic software development skills, but focus more on generic skills like the ability to learn independently, investigate/research topics etc.
Any ideas?
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
What should we aim for?
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5 comments:
Please, *please* focus on communication skills.
If I have to interview another candidate who can't even explain what polymorphism is, or explain any details at all of a project they worked on at uni, I just might go insane.
It'd be nice if just once a candidate could write the code to reverse a linked list, or understood the difference between String and StringBuffer/StringBuilder.
Less teaching of code, else, no teaching of code. I hate sitting in a lecture and the lecturer is just iterating through code.
"This line, 'echo hello', writes the word 'hello'. This next line, 'echo world'..."
We need more on alternative methods for doing something, rather than so much detail on one method.
Maybe have a group assignment in a programming subject?
Everyone has been in a group assignment presenting some boring research project, where most of it was completed the nights before submission date. These occur in most theory/business related subjects.
In programming, assignments are completed individually, which will help an individual's programming skills and software development.
However, software products are developed in teams so I believe a group assignment in programming will aid in communication skills and team-oriented development.
In my first year of uni, I have yet to complete a group assignment in programming. I believe a group assignment will allow students to share their programming knowledge/skills with each other and students in PSD will get to know each other a little more better.
I totally agree on group assignments in programing. As a professional working in the Industry I have never completed a project without having to (successfully)collaborate with a number of developers/testers/business analysts. And from my own experience as a student in Enterprise.NET the biggest challenge I felt as a student was to work together with another student on the same code branch. Back then it just didn't register as a good challenge to be facing. Its too easy to sit in front of an IDE and code away to glory, but to communicate that to a member/team and incorporate their changes is a challenge.
At my last job this was one of the major failings inherent in our otherwise competent team. It just does not seem to register to developers (including me) why is constant communication and collaboration as important as putting your head down and completing the code to get the thing to work.
My two cents worth.
- Afif
There's always talk about "communication skills" and I think that's the right focus.
Then why oh why is it I almost never hear any *actionable advice* regarding communication skills? :-) Practice is one thing, but just without advice and guidance practise means nothing.
As a suggestion, I think Psychology 101 should be compulsory for all first year students in all degrees, and it should cover communication skills.
My 2 cents. Give actionable advice.
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