Mapping job requirements of software engineers to Big Five Personality Traits

Abstract

Software engineering is a booming industry and is contributing to world economy in terms of providing employment and monetary benefits. Unfortunately, despite its im portance, research in this field is still not mature. Studies so far done in this field have heavily focused on technical aspects rather than non-technical. In fact, software development is a human activity (performed by humans) which emphasizes the importance of research on non-technical (human or soft aspects) of software engineering. Recently there has been an increase on studies which are focusing more on the soft aspects of software engineering. This study also focuses on the human aspect of software engineering namely personality. Software engineers belong to various categories and their roles differ from each other based on their job requirements and skills needed to perform those jobs. This study mapped the hard and soft skills required by various software engineers and then linked them to personality traits using Big Five Personality Traits.

Impact of personality and gender diversity on software development teams' performance

“…But unlike social science, the software development research on personality and gender is not reached on maturity level [6], [8]. Furthermore, Trauth [9] also mentioned that theoretical work in software research is lacking too.…”

“…In the end, authors also recommended the gender and different culture study for future. Moreover, Rehman et al [6] conducted their research of software team composition based on possible job requirements of software developments roles. Authors proposed a conceptual model that was based on Big Five personality traits.…”

“…Keeping in the view, Kang [5] mentioned that future research can include the demographics (i.e., culture and gender) characteristics with personality for better outcomes in software development. In the same vein, Rehman et al [6] and Karn & Cowling [7] encouraged the researchers of software engineering to conduct the future research on personality by focusing the various cultures and gender, especially including from different countries. Therefore, this research is paved to find the moderating factors on effectiveness of team performance based on personality with gender.…”

Personality, emotional intelligence and work preferences in software engineering: An empirical study

“…The methodology is applied in SE courses [7] and according to the writers it can improve the efficiency of the classroom teams. Recently, Rehman et al [76] Moreover, the existing empirical studies that link personality to working preferences towards software development are contradictory. It is important to mention at this point the need of advanced multivariate statistical analysis in cases when several attributes have to be statistically studied simultaneously.…”

Suitable Personality Traits for Learning Programming Subjects: A Rough-Fuzzy Model

“…However, this problem is still persistent in the field of software development since few researchers have ever tried to test personality and gender collectively to test the suitability of the team handy for software development. In this regard, Richards and Busch [28], Gilal et al, [10], and Rehman et al, [29] also assert that maturity level is yet to find in software development research. In the same vein, Trauth [30] also recommends that the need of improvement is required in the theoretical work on software development.…”