Box B.6 - An Example of the NWCET Standards



The technology standards of the Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET) are tied to specific types of jobs. For example, a programmer analyst an applications engineer, an operating systems programmer/analyst, an operating systems engineer, or a test engineer) is said to analyze, design, develop, test, implement, and maintain computer applications systems to meet functional objectives of a business. His or her job functions include analysis, design, development, testing, implementation, project management, and task management.

To establish a context, the standards provide a thumbnail job description:

As a Programmer or Analysts, you design and update the software that runs the computer. . . . Often you'll participate in design meetings where you help determine the best way to approach a problem or implement a desired feature for the new version of the software. Because of the complexity of the software and because parts of the software interconnect, this can take quite some time, depending on the magnitude of the change. You most likely will also be responsible for writing the specifications and keeping the specifications current for your part of the software.

You'll code the changes, and then test and debug the software, which may take a year or more of intense and focused work, including evenings and weekends. The challenge, of course, is to keep the software as lean as possible, while making it robust, powerful, and expandable. In most cases, the Programmer, Analyst, or Engineer must also ensure backwards compatibility with application software written for previous versions of the software. Periodically, the software team compiles the code. This software build is tested, and you correct any problems which all into your area of the code.

The core of the standards is a description of the primary tasks and functions involved in this scenario. These tasks and functions are selected from longer "master" lists of tasks and functions on the basis of their applicability to the scenario provided. For example, the scenario described above calls for the following:

SOURCE: Adapted from material found online at <http://nwcet.bcc.ctc.edu/skills/example/paf.htm>.



Copyright 1999 by the National Academy of Sciences