  Creativity is a critical skill that professional software engineers leverage
to tackle difficult problems. In higher education, multiple efforts have been
made to spark creative skills of engineering students. However, creativity is a
vague concept that is open to interpretation. Furthermore, studies have shown
that there is a gap in perception and implementation of creativity between
industry and academia. To better understand the role of creativity in software
engineering (SE), we interviewed 33 professionals via four focus groups and 10
SE students. Our results reveal 45 underlying topics related to creativity.
When comparing the perception of students versus professionals, we discovered
fundamental differences, grouped into five themes: the creative environment,
application of techniques, creative collaboration, nature vs nurture, and the
perceived value of creativity. As our aim is to use these findings to install
and further encourage creative problem solving in higher education, we have
included a list of implications for educational practice.
