CSSE 371  --  Software Requirements and Specification  --  Fall 2004

Homework 1

Due September 6, 2004

Purpose: Gain experience reading requirements

1. Pick a job title related to software engineering which you could visualize yourself doing.

2. Find 10 position descriptions which relate to that job title and save the text for each of them. These are, in effect, the requirements for 10 jobs similar to the one you envisioned, according to 10 real stakeholders.

For example:  Go to http://www.monster.com, click on "search jobs", and search for "software engineer". Try to select ones from different companies, to get some variety.

3. Read the 10 position descriptions.  Write down at least 20 requirements that you believe look like common threads -- job qualifications which at least 2 of the 10 position descriptions mentioned.  These might be specific skills or background, or something more general like "ability to communicate".  Generalize the requirements if necessary, to get 20 of them which span multiple position descriptions.  For example, several of them may have asked for database background, although they differed about which database you were supposed to know.

4. Using the Problem Statement template in the Resources folder, "problem_statement.doc", find a place for each of the 20 requirements. Read The Ins and Outs of Problem Statements as an aid in filling out the template.

5. Turn in your job description. It should be about 1 page long.