Explore KSACs by Pathway
Explore Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Credentials (KSACs) by IT Pathway.
In late 2025, the Partnership pulled together members of industry from across tech to share how the in-demand skillsets for entry-level roles in their fields have changed in the last two years. The KSACs below reflect their feedback on entry-level expectations, especially in a tech workplace increasingly shaped by AI.
7. Software Construction and Analytics
| Label | KSAC Description | Bloom's Taxonomy Level | |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | Identify and evaluate the key components, including data privacy and ethical considerations, of a use-case or similar description of some behavior that is required for a system using the requirements-gathering process. | knowledge | 2 |
| b | Describe the requirements engineering process to elicit and validate behavioral requirements. | knowledge | 2 |
| c | Interpret a use-case or similar requirements model for a simple software system. | skill | 2 |
| d | Identify both functional and non-functional requirements in a given requirements specification for a software system. | skill | 2 |
| e | Apply key elements and common methods for elicitation and analysis to produce a set of software requirements for a small-sized software system. | skill | 3 |
| f | Describe the relative advantages and disadvantages among several major process models (e.g., waterfall, iterative, and agile). | knowledge | 1 |
| g | Describe the different practices that are key components of various process models. | knowledge | 2 |
| h | Differentiate among the phases of software development and understand associated roles and responsibilities of teammates for each. | knowledge | 2 |
| i | Ability to executive phases of software development in iterative and agile manner. | ability | 3 |
| j | Understand how programming in the large differs from individual efforts including a large code base, code reading, builds, context and the documentation of changes. | knowledge | 2 |
| k | Ability to participate in an agile software development team. | ability | 3 |
| l | Ability to work on a team; responsibilities of how each role and how they fit together. | ability | 3 |
| m | Knowledge of the Agile manifesto. | knowledge | 2 |
| n | Understanding the meaning of minimum viable product. | knowledge | 2 |
| o | Knowledge of DevOps. | knowledge | 2 |
| p | Ability to contextualize, modernize, and optimize both legacy and emerging software systems. | ability | 2 |
| q | Apply reverse engineering skills to understand unfamiliar software. | ability | 2 |
| r | Understand product metrics, analytics instrumentation, and event logging. | knowledge | 1 |
| s | Understand MVP thinking in agile product delivery. | knowledge | 1 |
| t | Apply requirements in iterative cycles rather than linear processes. | ability | 2 |
Credentials
- N/A