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This paper investigates factors influencing software engineers' perceptions of corporate training quality and effectiveness in Brazil. Through a survey of 282 professionals and polychoric correlation analysis, the study identifies cognitive engagement, activity variety, and instructor performance as key predictors of perceived training quality. The research also finds that mandatory participation negatively impacts motivation and perceived training quality, while perceived impact on personal time is largely independent of training quality.
Turns out, software engineers aren't so different: engaging content, diverse activities, and good instructors are the keys to effective corporate training, just like in any other field.
Context: Strategic corporate training is essential for the sustained professional development of software engineers. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding the factors that drive quality and effectiveness of such training from the professionals'perspective, and no validated instrument exists for assessing these factors in the software engineering (SE) domain. Objective: This study aims to quantitatively analyze which factors influence SE professionals'perceptions of corporate training quality and effectiveness. Method: A quantitative survey was conducted with 282 Brazilian SE professionals. A structured questionnaire was developed and polychoric correlation was adopted for data analysis. Results: Three tightly correlated factors (cognitive engagement, variety of activities, and instructor performance) emerged as the strongest predictors of perceived training quality and effectiveness. Mandatory participation significantly reduces motivation and perceived training quality. Perceived impact on personal time proved to be largely independent of training quality. These findings are consistent with the general training effectiveness literature. Conclusions: Training effectiveness in the SE context is predominantly determined by three factors: cognitive engagement, variety of activities, and instructor performance. Mandatory participation negatively influences motivation, perceived relevance, and perceived training quality, while also amplifying the perception of time burden. The consistency with the general literature suggests that software organizations do not need to reinvent training design principles and can apply established guidelines with confidence. Salas and Cannon-Bowers'framework produced coherent results in the SE context, making it a promising candidate for future psychometric validation.
