Fostering qualified software engineers via software engineering conversion programmes

Considering that every company is becoming a software company, there will be an ongoing demand for qualified software engineers. However, there seems to be a supply shortage of graduates in Computer Science or Software Engineering from the traditional university education. It has been observed for decades that a considerable number of developers in the software industry do not have computer science degrees and basic software engineering educations. On the other hand, such a phenomenon may have revealed the reality and trend that the software industry will continue the intake of career-shift employees and graduates from non-computer science disciplines. Therefore, we argue software engineering conversion programmes to be a strategic and long-term approach to fostering qualified software engineers. The conversion programmes will substantially supplement the classic university programmes and address the disadvantage of unconventional entry points (e.g., bootcamp training and self-learning). We have conducted critical reflection on our first-hand educational practice together with extensive literature review to justify our argument.