Workshop:
Professional Development
of Software Engineers
Hazzan Orit
Department of Education in Technology and Scinece
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Homepage:
http://edu.technion.ac.il/Faculty/OritH/HomePage
What can be done?
Workshop plan
 Personal stories

Tell your story (past and future)
 Role models

Tell the story of a role model
 Case studies

Construct a case study that illustrates one aspect of the
topic
 Development environments

Analyze a team meeting

Describe a preferred development environment
 Personal development plans
Role models:
Famous and accepted
Ada Lovelace
http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/lovelace.html
Grace Murray Hopper
http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/hopper.html
Anita Borg
http://www.iwt.org/news/anitaborg/inmemory.htm
http://www.iwt.org/borg.html
Role models (alphabetically)
Francine D. Berman http://www.cs.ucsd.edu/users/berman/
Lenore Blum http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~lblum/lblum.html
Boots Cassel http://duplex.mcs.drexel.edu/events/cassel/
Lynn Conway http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/conway.html
Thelma Estrin http://www.cs.ucla.edu/csd/people/faculty_pages/testrin.html
Maria Klawe http://www.princeton.edu/~seasweb/dean/Klawe/Klawe.html
Nancy Leveson http://sunnyday.mit.edu/
Mary Shaw http://spoke.compose.cs.cmu.edu/shaweb/
Role models
Additional resources:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/wics/lectures.shtml speakers
http://women.cs.cmu.edu/
Role models
Towards the next meeting:
Select a woman role model (from the given list or
from the software industry).
Find information about this role model and tell her
story.
Case studies
Construct a case study about
women in the software engineering
world.
Case studies construction
 Step 1. Select a topic: Think about a topic that
you find it interesting and relevant for you to
discuss.
 Step 2. Analyze the nature of the topic: Check
whether the topic you want to focus on has enough
heft to be at the center of a case study.
Case studies construction (cont)
 Step 3. Imagine possible situations: Imagine at
least two situations in software engineering in
which the topic may be relevant.
 Step 4. Write the case study: Write down the
selected case study. Try to make it vivid as much
as possible without forgetting to include in it the
main issues you wanted to address.
Case studies construction (cont)
 Step 5. Check the scope of the case study: Check issues
such as:

Is the main message you wanted to convey by this case study
reflected properly?

Are the connections between the different topics addressed in
the case study clear?

Can other related topics be added to the case study without
altering the focus of the case study?
 Step 6. Develop questions about the case study: Develop
stimulating questions.
Case studies construction: outline
 Step 1. Select a topic
 Step 2. Analyze the nature of the topic
 Step 3. Imagine possible situations
 Step 4. Write the case study
 Step 5. Check the scope of the case study
 Step 6. Develop questions
Role Models:
Students’ presentations
Networking in the software
industry
Develop a website that will facilitate ongoing
networking in the filed of software engineering.
Outline your targets and present a detailed process
by which you plan to achieve them.
Optional: Develop the website, follow through with the
said process. Did you follow your plan? What was done
differently than your original plan?
Towards the next meeting
Observe one of your team meetings in the Cave. If you
do not have a meeting during the workshop, based the
following analysis on your memory. Identify the main
characteristics of the meeting: atmosphere, leadership,
topics discussed, etc. Analyze your description:
• Do you like the environment you have described?
• If yes, what do you find attractive in that development
environment?
• If not, which of its elements would you change?
Towards the next meeting (cont)
Based on the above analysis and other impressions:
•Describe characteristics of a software
development environment in which you would like
to participate.
•Explain each of the components you mention.
•How will you establish such an environment
when you become a software project leader?