Employers' perspectives on it learning outcomes

• Authors: Craig S. Miller;Lucia Dettori
• Venue: SIGITE '08 Proceedings of the 9th ACM SIGITE conference on Information technology education
• Year: 2008

As part of the assessment process of our BS in Information Technology (IT), we sought the perspective of IT employers on needed skills and knowledge for a career in IT. To this end, we conducted structured interviews with 10 IT employers in the Chicago area. Starting with an open-ended query, we asked for knowledge, skills or competencies that they particularly value when hiring IT graduates. We then asked for feedback on four preselected competencies. All four competencies were framed in technology-independent terms and are consistent with the ACM 2005 IT curricula guidelines. Two of the competencies addressed abstraction and modeling, which directly correspond to learning outcomes in the core IT Fundamentals in the ACM guidelines. A third competency addressed object-based user interface development. A final competency focused on the distinction between interface and implementation. For each competency, we asked about their value with respect to their IT positions and how they assess the competency in a job candidate. One major finding from the interviews is that knowledge specific to a particular language or platform was rarely cited as relevant and often explicitly noted as irrelevant. The competency on abstraction was uniformly rated as needed, often receiving critical ratings. Modeling and ability to distinguish between interface and implementation were also indicated as needed by nearly every interviewee. Object-based user interface development was considered useful knowledge but only needed for specific types of positions. For assessing competencies, a common approach involved asking prospective recruits to present an experience where they applied principles associated with a particular competency. Several interviewees also assess level of understanding by presenting candidates with hypothetical scenarios and observing their problem-solving process. To complement the detailed commentary provided by our interviews, we plan a survey with a large number of respondents for more reliable estimates of how employers value and assess IT competencies.