Discover a Career in IT

CCEA speaks to professionals at Allstate NI, Liberty IT and Kainos, asking them about their educational pathway into IT and experiences along the way.

The CCEA GCE Software Systems Development specification encourages students to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary for working in the software industry.

This specification is available at two levels: AS and A2. Students can take the AS units plus the A2 units for a full GCE A level qualification. They can also choose to take the AS course as a stand-alone qualification.

In the AS units, students adopt an object oriented approach to problem solving. They develop their object oriented skills while learning to appreciate the benefits of developing applications in this type of environment. Students also learn to implement and develop object oriented technologies in an event driven environment.

Students who continue to A2 develop their understanding of the reasons for systems development. They are introduced to important database concepts that enable them to understand relational database systems implemented through Structured Query Language (SQL). Students also experience elements of the systems development process.

The specification has four units:

• Unit AS 1: Introduction to Object Oriented Development
• Unit AS 2: Event Driven Programming
• Unit A2 1: Systems Approaches and Database Concepts
• Unit A2 2: Implementing Solutions.