Preliminary Findings about the Nature of Work in Software Engineering: An Exploratory Survey

Context: Work Design refers to the different ways in which a given work or task can be designed and performed. The study of work design is important because every decision related to how the work is performed can affect the outcomes of individuals and the effectiveness of teamwork. Goal: To investigate work design characteristics of software engineering work and identify areas for future research. Method: We performed a survey with professional software engineers working in different commercial software companies in Brazil. We sent invitations to just over 150 professionals and received 77 valid answers from participants working in 35 distinct software companies. We measured 21 work design constructs, as well as job burnout, role conflict, role ambiguity, and two constructs related to job rotation. Results: Comparisons of our sample with other sample consisting of a diversity of professions showed that software engineering work has distinct characteristics, but some results require further investigation. Conclusion: We identified relevant characteristics of software engineering work and areas for further research. In particular, longitudinal studies are needed to address the temporal variations impossible to identify in cross sectional studies.