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 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology has endorsed the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society’s Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) and Certified Software Development Associate (CSDA) programs, helping fund and facilitate the CSDA as an exit exam for its graduates to help prepare them for their professional careers. The college was an early adopter of the CSDA program, launched earlier this year by the Computer Society, the world’s leading organization of computing professionals.
“This examination verifies, for Rose-Hulman and for employers, that our students did succeed in learning major content of this body of knowledge, and thus that they stand out as qualified bachelor’s-level software engineers,” states Cary Laxer, chair of Rose-Hulman’s Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.
The CSDA gives Rose-Hulman graduates a credential for establishing a solid base of software engineering development skills that distinguishes them from graduates that don’t hold a certification. Furthermore, the college uses CSDA results to gauge the effectiveness of its curriculum in software engineering. Rose-Hulman has also adopted SWEBOK as the foundation for its software engineering curriculum.
“We used SWEBOK recommendations to decide our approach, content, and depth, in building a bachelor’s degree program that would advance the careers of our software engineering graduates,” said Steven Chenoweth, associate professor of computer science and software engineering. “Our major employers are excited about the qualifications of our software engineering majors.”
Rose-Hulman alumnus Tori Wenger, senior engineering manager for Rockwell Collins, an Iowa-based aviation electronics firm, stated that CSDA provides an industry benchmark for measuring students’ educational progress.
“It provides a model for software engineering students similar to that provided by the ACT and SAT for high-school students and by the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam for students in other engineering disciplines. For the educational institutions whose students take the exam, it allows a means of independently assessing the software engineering program,” said Wenger, a 2004 Rose-Hulman computer science graduate. “While a single test can never encapsulate an entire four-year degree, this exam still provides a good measuring stick.”
As consumer confidence with technology grows and the volume of products containing software increases, Wenger said the professional software community needs to be even more diligent in developing consistently high-quality products.
“One key way to do this is through industry standards and sharing best practices. One of the objectives of SWEBOK is to promote a consistent view of software engineering worldwide. CSDA and SWEBOK provide an excellent way to ensure that new graduates are equipped with the knowledge they need to be successful,” Wenger said.
The CSDA is one of two professional software development certifications the Computer Society offers. The other, the Certified Software Development Professional certification, is tailored to mid-career professionals. For more information on certifications, go to http://www2.computer.org/getcertified.
The largest of IEEE's 39 societies with nearly 85,000 members, the Computer Society is dedicated to advancing the theory and application of computer and information-processing technology. The society serves the information and career-development needs of today’s computing researchers and practitioners with technical journals, magazines, conferences, books, conference publications, and online courses.
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