Data and computer network security issues have become increasingly important in professional engineering practice, requiring educated engineers capable to solve the real security problems. This strongly emphasize the importance of including courses dedicated to data and computer network security in information technology curricula, and providing real first‐hands experiences with physical equipment to students. This article presents a qualitative study aimed at exploring students’ experiences in a physical laboratory for computer network and data security. Identified experiences were organized into a conceptual framework, providing a base for improvement of learning materials and the laboratory. Benefits and implications for students, lecturers, and researchers are also discussed. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 25:290–303, 2017; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.21797

Given the technological advances and the recognized importance of the application of technologies in project management, the question arises whether the technologies of Industry 4.0 can solve the problem of failure of information technologies (IT) projects. This question is the main motivator for writing this paper and conducting research on this topic. This paper describes a research that was conducted with the intention of examining the extent to which modern technologies can contribute to the success of IT projects. The research shows the extent to which modern technologies are applied in project management in the IT sector of Serbia, as well as the extent to which experts believe that these technologies have a positive impact on project success, analyzing the issue through their impact on success factors. This research provides insights that can contribute to a better understanding of modern technologies and their application in practice.

Software requirements express users' needs and constraints for a software system to be constructed in order to solve some real problems. Both researchers and practitioners from industry point out that well performed requirements related activities have very important role for successful realization of software projects. Software developers work on software requirements jointly with software users. Requirements elicitation and specification are especially important since they require software developers with multidisciplinary skills. These activities require not only technical skills but also non-technical or soft skills. This article presents a qualitative study with software developers aimed at inquiring how they perceive soft skills in software requirements activities. The study involved 14 software developers, who were interviewed. Data analysis, based on inductive thematic analysis, resulted in three themes that reflect software developers' perceptions about soft skills. The study findings revealed that software developers are aware of soft skills, recognize the need to improve them and understand their importance in everyday practice. Implications of the research findings for researchers, software developers and managers in software organizations are discussed.

Software requirements engineering is a field insoftware engineering that highly depends on human factor sinceit includes knowledge and skills from domain of softwareengineering and from the domain of problem where software willbe used, but also from both organizational and social sciencesaspects. Therefore, researching human factor is very importantfor understanding industrial practice and identifyingimprovement directions. Deeper understanding of human factorinfluence on software requirements engineering practice assumesthe use of qualitative research methods. This paper presents apreliminary review of literature that investigates human factor insoftware requirements engineering by using qualitative researchmethods. The presented study contributes to the research field bypresenting a clearly defined process of preliminary literaturereview, and as a pilot study, it will be used for planning detailedand systematic literature review.

Abstract. Establishment of a secure connection over Internet in industrial and commercial environments is very important. Considering that, information technology (IT) professionals are in charge for implementing the appropriate technologies. Therefore, the efficient IT security training inclusion in the university courses has the crucial role. The creation of VPN laboratory exercises for industrial Ethernet and business communication is presented in this paper. The VPN exercises are implemented on two laboratory sets for teaching VPN, the first one based on Allen-Bradley® communication equipment in combination with other hardware and software components, and the second platform based on Cisco routers. The qualitative study was conducted in order to analyze student's experiences. Research findings indicate the importance of students experience in using learning materials and scenarios, experience in problem solving and using laboratory sets for mastering VPN technology.