Projected performance requirements for personnel entering information processing jobs for the federal government /

Abstract

Respondents clearly indicated that the demand for programmers and systems analysts will continue to be strong during the next five years. The anticipated increase for systems analysts is 44.4 percent while that for programmers is 18.3 percent.

To obtain current relevant information concerning these areas, a questionnaire was distributed to 60 supervisors of information processing personnel in government agencies in the State of Oklahoma. A total of 57 responses were received.

This study was conducted to determine the performance requirements and training for computer programmers and systems analysts which government employers expect to hire during the next five years. Additional information was gathered concerning the rating of present training for these specialists and curricular changes that would enhance the training of future personnel.

In contrast to the recent past, when these employees were primarily trained on the job, future hirees are expected to have earned a college degree in order to meet the performance requirements of their supervisors. The supervisors suggest that college and university training is highly valued and institutions must place primary emphasis on producing qualified individuals in the field of computer science and information processing.

Supervisors selected telecommunications, database, networking, systems analysis and systems design as very important non-language subjects. They selected COBOL and ADVANCED COBOL as two important language subjects.

An overwhelming majority of the supervisors considered some form of formal continuing education to be of great importance. This need parallels the development of new technologies. It was pointed out that colleges and universities need to be proactive in their curriculum design and set up courses to prepare students to become productive workers rather than design the curriculum to serve their internal purposes.

The United States Federal Government is the largest computer user in the world. Many studies have been done concerning the hardware requirements and usage. There has been little documentation concerning the requirements for personnel trained to utilize the hardware.