Travis DeanThesis Advisor: Clark Savage Turner

Cal Poly, CSC Department

OverviewBackgroundScopeMy Current WorkValidationFuture Work

OverviewBackgroundScopeMy Current WorkValidationFuture Work

Background• Licensing process is

– Graduate from ABET accredited program– Pass EIT/FE exam– Acquire 4 years experience– Pass discipline-specific PE exam

Background• Why License?

• Software is in safety-critical systems• Software Engineers not licensed

• IEEE-USA developing PE exam

Problem StatementA Principles and Practices of Engineering

(PE) Exam does not exist for Software Engineers

ScopeI cover

PE ExamI don’t cover

Licensing ProcessFE ExamCSC vs SE

OverviewBackgroundScopeMy Current WorkValidationFuture Work

My WorkSurvey

ABET AccreditationSWEBOKCSDPIEEE and ACM professional SE papersPublished Material

CSDPCertified Software Development ProfessionalProcess of certification closely matches

licensingExam Coverage

My Ongoing WorkFinalizing proposed exam specificationsDeveloping a sample examValidation

OverviewBackgroundScopeMy Current WorkValidationFuture Work

ValidationPart 1 – Survey of Professional WorkPart 2 – Evaluation of my proposed criteriaPart 3 – Evaluation of my proposed sample

exam

Validation – Part 1 & 2Method

Likert scaleSurveyed

Licensed software engineers from TexasExperienced industry representativesWell-known and respected software engineers

Validation – Part 3Item A B C D E

1 .90 .85 .80 .80 .85

2 .90 .90 .90 .90 .95

3 .80 .60 .60 .70 .70

4 .75 .70 .70 .80 .60

5 .80 .55 .60 .55 .60

6 .80 .70 .65 .65 .70

Rater Avg 0.825 .717 .708 .733 .733

Average Pass Rate = 74.32%

Future WorkCORE BoKFE ExamCSC vs SEActual PE Exam