Although it's possible to enter the world of software engineering from many different backgrounds it is still the case that many engineers will have studied some related technological discipline.
Armed with this hard earned knowledge they enter the world of professional development assured that they can hit ground running. Whilst this maybe true on a purely technical level there are many aspects of being a professional developer that unfortunately isn't taught at universities or colleges.
I should at this juncture admit that these views are mainly based on my experience of university compared to the world of work, which is admittedly now some time ago. However I think it is still the case that sometimes the curriculum can focus on the theoretical over the practical which isn't always to the benefit of the industry.
Source Control
Aside from their IDE of choice and the ticket management system their team chooses to employ the other item developers will interact with on a daily basis is source control. In this regard the proper use of source control is crucial to the effectiveness of a team.
Understanding the different approaches to branching strategies, having an appreciation of more advanced features, along with the basic etiquette of source control are all skills that will help new team members integrate into a team quickly and smoothly.
Although some courses may attempt to cover certain aspects of source control and may explain some of the available tooling options, a lack of practical experience in working on a code base within a team can hinder students in gaining an appreciation for why source control is so important.
Continuous Integration
In a similar vein a lack of experience in working on a code base with a group of collaborators can also hinder an appreciation for the importance of Continuous Integration (CI).
The reason for the existence of CI is to solve the problem of integration hell that arises when code from multiple developers needs to be combined into a single build for release. CI has been around for long enough for even many experienced developers to not remember the troublesome days before "the build box". But what still remains prevalent is the need for stability in main line code and the shift left mentality designed to protect it.
A lack of understanding of the importance of CI can also be caused by a lack of exposure to the need to release. Obviously students are well aware of the importance of deadlines but nothing quite compares to the pressure to release combined with the scrutiny of a real user base to sharpen the mind and develop strategies to avoid mistakes.
Legacy Code
The opportunities for developers to work on truly greenfield projects are very often few and far between. Usually in the majority of codebases or systems there are areas of legacy code that may be sub-optimal in certain aspects but that are so crucial to the correct operation of the software that everyone must tread careful when making changes.
This is not to say that legacy code should never be dealt with but the strategies employed for doing that are often very different to the rip it up and start again philosophy that may be employed in other areas of code.
Learning to work effectively with code you didn't write is a fact of life for all developers. Interpreting code written by others along with writing your own code to be understandable by some future reader is something all developers have to learn.
The points made here shouldn't be interpreted as criticism for those that have a lack of experience. The majority of valuable lessons all developers need to learn are born from the experience of making mistakes, the scar tissue that these mistakes develop are almost a rite of passage for many engineers. You're nobody until you've broken the build or deployed a bug to production.
In this sense it may seem unfair to blame academic institutions for not being able to produce experienced engineers. Whilst its true you can't teach experience you can foster an appreciation for the wider world that awaits. Few people study technological subjects purely as an academic exercise, the majority are doing so with an eye to becoming a professional in the industry, in this regard including some of the more vocational skills would benefit all concerned.
