Rate and Reduce Technical Debt in a Telecom OSS Codebase
Overview
What this challenge is about.
Rate telecom OSS modules A–E using SQALE, estimate remediation costs, and plan upgrades. Earn a verifiable certificate.
The scenario
Lumera Telekom is a Tier-2 European telecom operator headquartered in Vienna, running mobile and fixed-line services in four markets on an aging Java operations-support system that provisions orders, bills customers, and manages network inventory. Leadership wants to fund modernization but lacks a credible, repeatable measure of where the technical debt actually sits.
The Brief
What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.
Produce a defensible SQALE rating for every OSS module and a funded twelve-month plan to lift the three worst-rated modules by one grade each, all reproducible from the provided materials.
Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate
- Translate a static-analysis findings export into a defensible, reproducible SQALE rating per module.
- Map analysis rules to the eight SQALE quality characteristics and justify a weighting scheme.
- Convert remediation effort into calibrated person-day cost estimates tied to a stated day-rate.
- Sequence refactoring work into a capacity-constrained, quarter-by-quarter improvement plan.
- Communicate a technical-debt assessment and funding ask to a senior engineering stakeholder.
Program Fit
Where this fits in your program.
Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.
Aligned coursework coming soon.
Skills
Skills you'll demonstrate.
Each one shows up on your verified credential.
- Sqale Method
Apply sqale method to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Technical Debt
Apply technical debt to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Code Quality
Apply code quality to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Static Analysis
Apply static analysis to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Refactoring
Apply refactoring to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Stakeholder Communication
Apply stakeholder communication to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
Careers
Career paths this challenge builds toward
Completing this challenge demonstrates skills that transfer directly to these roles:
Systems Architect
Rating a large legacy system and proposing a funded modernization path is core architect work; this challenge builds the judgment to measure technical debt defensibly and sequence remediation against delivery capacity.
This challenge sharpens
- sqale-method
- technical-debt
- refactoring
Code Quality Engineer
Quality engineers own the analysis configuration and the rules that turn raw findings into ratings. Here you design that mapping from scratch and prove it reproduces from a real findings export.
This challenge sharpens
- code-quality
- static-analysis
- sqale-method
Engineering Manager
Managers must turn a debt assessment into a budget and a plan leadership will fund. This challenge practices costing remediation and defending a capacity-bounded roadmap to a senior stakeholder.
This challenge sharpens
- technical-debt
- stakeholder-communication
- refactoring