a future for it professionals (?)

A future for theIT professional (?)

Bart Van Loon

Computer Scienceis hot

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War for Talent

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A future for theIT professional

(?)

Bart Van Loon


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Hi! I am Bart.


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I’m an entrepreneur


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I work at Zeropoint.IT, anoffshore IT talent partner

for web developers in Belgium

Zeropoint.ITPakistan

Zeropoint.ITSri Lanka


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From time to time you’ll find slides like thisinserted in the presentation. They are not partof the actual slide deck. I’m inserting these toadd some context for readers who have notattended the talk.

You will always find them after the slide theyrefer to.


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Computer Science is hot

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Computer science is very hot today. It is clearthat we are living through the information era;this is the digital age.

In the past we have seen revolutions inarchitecture, chemistry, mechanics, electronics,. . . Now is the time of the computer scientists.


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I Many of the largest companies in theworld are from the IT sector (Apple, IBM,Microsoft, . . . ). The others are in energy.

I Some of the most famous brands are ITbrands (Apple, Microsoft, Facebook,Google, . . . ). The others are food andfashion.

I The most famous and watched over IPO’sare in the field of IT (Google, Groupon,Facebook, . . . ).


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Slowly, the IT sector is producing role modelswhich appeal to a wider public. No more nerdyBill Gates, but popular Steve Jobs and youngMark Zuckerberg.


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4 functions:

1. Architect

2. Consultant

3. Project manager

4. Specialist

4 sectors:

1. Finance

2. ICT

3. Industry

4. Public


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Architect:

I methodological

I industry insight

I breadth of technologies

Consultant:

I communication facilitation

I opportunity identification

I research and analysis

Project manager:

I business judgement

I leadership, relationships

I communication, negotiation

Specialist:

I designing, developing, building

I hands-on solution realisation

I tests and implementations


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Here, I ask the students which of the four ITfunctions they prefer, which profession theywant to pursue. Every time, 80% or more gofor “IT specialist”.

Why?


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Because there’s a mismatch between what ITstudents learn at school, and what the possiblejob outcomes are. Nobody in any IT educationprogramme in Flanders is being formally trainedin the skills required to be a good architect,consultant or project manager.


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35% : technical capabilities

25% : personality and leadership

15% : non-technical capabilities

15% : social-economic understanding

10% : ‘recruitable’


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23 of 551Based on a September 2011 study by IBM in Belgium

Second mismatch: the complete IT educationpackage today focuses almost solely ontechnical capabilities, where they only accountfor 35% of the “perfect profile”1.


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Third issue: if we provide the job market withIT students that only possess “practical”technical capabilities, we’re not thinkinglong-term. No sector changes as fast as the ITsector.

If you graduated as a computer science engineerfrom the KULeuven in 2003 or before, Java wasnot (really) covered in your study programme.


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One possible solution that could target all threediscussed issues is to introduce a conceptchange in the IT education:

we have to shift from Just in Caselearning to Just in Time learning.


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VDAB: computer scientist has been listed as acritical profession for 10 years


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Agoria: “shortage of 10.000 ICT-professionals inBelgium (out of 100.000 active)”


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Agoria: “in 2010, the number of computerscience students in Dutch-speaking education

fell by 9.5%”


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European Commission: “The number of ITgraduates has not increased since 2008. [. . . ]The EU may lack 700.000 IT professionals by

2015.”


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10 most wanted profiles on vacature.com:

1. Industrial engineer

2. Civil engineer

3. Technical graduate

4. Account manager

5. Administrative assistant

6. ICT engineer

7. Consultant

8. Programmer

9. Project manager

10. IT consultant

vacature.com


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Well prepared by school or not, IT students allfind a great job, often before graduating.

There is a war waging on the Belgian IT labourmarket. A real war:

I new recruits get crazy perks

I talent is being bought away by competitors

I people are even incentivised for mere jobinterviews


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These are your competitors for that IT job inBelgium.


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By now it may seem that the future of the ITprofessional is looking so bright that even thisguy could get a consulting job, right?


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“The flip”


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43 of 552Look up “The new normal” by Peter Hinssen!

Be careful, and think about “the flip”2.Nothing ever keeps on growing exponentially.


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Thenew

normal


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My oldest Facebook contact was born on 14thNovember 1926. He has 104 “friends”.

He did all of this himself. No IT professionalwhatsoever was required.


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I When newspapers were getting popular,we needed people to read them for us inthe streets. Now, everybody can read.

I When typewriters were getting popular, weneeded typists to operate them for us.Now, everybody can type.

I Now computers are getting popular, weneed IT professionals to make them usefulfor us. Soon, everybody . . .


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Now, add the cloud into the equation. This isdecreasing the dependency of companies on(local and expensive) IT professionals.

“Capgemini takes VDAB to the cloud with asuccessful migration to Google Apps, saving anestimated e 500,000 a year.” (2011)


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50 of 553Check out http://zeropoint.it! :-)

The world is flat. Larger companies are alreadyrecruiting worldwide as if it were locally. WimLeers from Hasselt did his student internship atFacebook in the USA. Google Summer of Codeis a covert talent hiring operation.

Offshoring IT operations has been a reality fora over decade now. Organising offshore teamsof IT professionals is becoming easier andeasier. Also for small(er) companies3.

http://zeropoint.it


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The understanding


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52 of 554If you haven’t checked http://zeropoint.it yet, then do it now ;-)

My prediction: after “the flip”, we’ll get to“the understanding”. Companies in maturemarkets will understand how they can reducetheir local IT workforce, as

I every single employee will be moreacquainted with IT

I the cloud will allow sharing IT professionalsconcentrated in a few specialisedcompanies anywhere on the planet

I super easy access to international talentwill decrease the treshold to outsourceoffshore4

http://zeropoint.it


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So, is there a future for the IT professional inBelgium?

I In the short term: yes, and it’s lookingbright!

I In the mid term: okay, it will become aprofession like any other

I In the long term: no, make sure to prepareand re-educate for a different kind of ITprofessionalism need in Belgium


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Hi! I am Bart. You can reach me at:

I (+32) 472/94.14.34

I [email protected]

I @b b b a r t

mailto:[email protected]

http://twitter.com/b_b_b_a_r_t


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References and credits

I http://www.agoria.be/. . . /Future of IT Professionals in Mature Markets.pdf

I http://ec.europa.eu/commission 2010-2014/. . . /background sources en.pdf

I Jason Freeny from Moist Production

I Julien Tromeur (julosstock) from http://sxc.hu

I “The new normal” by Peter Hinssen

I http://vacature.com

http://www.agoria.be/upload/e_Skills/Future_of_IT_Professionals_in_Mature_Markets.pdf

http://www.agoria.be/upload/e_Skills/Future_of_IT_Professionals_in_Mature_Markets.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/pdf/background_sources_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/pdf/background_sources_en.pdf

http://moistproduction.blogspot.com/2011/11/mini-figure-anatomy-sculpt.html

http://www.sxc.hu/profile/julosstock

http://sxc.hu

http://vacature.com

a future for it professionals (?)

Education