Aligning Software Architecture Training with Software Industry Requirements

Abstract

The activities of software design, documenting, and evaluating the structure of software systems, referred to as Software Architecture, have been increasingly getting significant attention in industries. This situation is because of the explicit and prominent role assigned to quality attributes while developing software systems. By considering the high relevance of Software Architecture to industry, many academic institutes have introduced a course on Software Architecture as a part of undergraduate programs in Software Engineering. However, teachers offering this course face numerous challenges. Some of these challenges stem from how software architecture is practised in industries and others from teaching them in an academic setting. This paper describes an experience of designing a software architecture course that aligns the competencies expected from professional software architects with teaching practices imparting those competencies. Such an alignment is necessary to improve the employability of graduate students, make their progression from academic institutes to industries an effortless one, and for better learning outcomes. In the absence of such alignment, fresh graduates need to re-train, leading to training costs and delayed recruitment of fresh graduates by their prospective employers. The experience reports recurring challenges observed by earlier researchers, strategies to address them and our experience in implementing those strategies. The teaching strategies suggested are potentially helpful and practical, especially to less-experienced instructors teaching a course on Software Architecture.