Updating the IT skills gap Moldova ICT Summit 2016 John O’Sullivan April 28, 2016 Igor Bercu Chisinau, Moldova Disclaimer The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessary reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.
What’s it all about ? A fresh view of the (alleged) IT skills gap Updating earlier studies Baseline for further projects by USAID and others Methodology: Research + Interviews + Surveys 197 companies 211 students 78 graduates
Economic and political dramas Banking, economic and political crises: GDP down by 2.5% Inflation up from 5 to 13% Interest rates up from 3.5 to 19.5% Military action and unrest in Ukraine Six recent Governments Impact on ICT is not clear
ICT sector in Moldova Hundreds of companies, growing at about 20 per year Four large, > 250 people: Allied Testing, Cedacri, Endava, Global Phoning Six medium, 50-250: Amdaris, Arax-Impex, DAAC, Neuron, Pentalog, Tacit Four telecoms: Moldcell, Moldtelecom, Orange, Starnet Accurate statistics are not easy to obtain
Services and Markets Full range of ICT services and sectors Outsourcing dominates Government and Agriculture/Food look low
Number of IT Jobs National Bureau of Statistics reports 10,340 for 2014 + Under recording + Freelancers + IT people in other sectors, eg banking So total could be about 12,500 Highest paid sector in Moldova, double national average: 8,500 lei in January 2015 High productivity: 1.8% of workforce; 1.5% of GDP Very high exports
Occupations Programming dominates But lots of others too
Recruitment methods Advertising and personal recommendation are favourites
But good people are difficult to find Lack of skills is the key issue
Sources of new entrants UTM dominates Lots of others
Platforms and languages needed Wide variety of everything No dominant technology
Even more variety
Testing skills needed too All aspects of testing are required
Foreign language and personal skills needed
Some employer quotations Struggling to maintain people. Direct recruiting from universities has not been successful. Main problem is quality of people. Teaching staff are poor – teachers should be certified. The skills gap is growing. Graduates lack product skills. Everything is the same – still disappointing. Hours of practice must increase. The problem is quality and organisation of practical work. Students do not understand what a system is. Typically six months to recruit.
72% of companies do not collaborate with education
But what do students think ? Speciality Current university Why IT ?
Which is best for IT ? Why ?
Internship - How obtained ? How useful ?
Overall ratings
Continue your education ?
Young graduates
Overall satisfaction with education
Additional training needed
More additional training needed
And even more additional training needed
Career progression Overall career satisfaction Why ? Continuing your education
So, is there still a skills gap ?
Some recent improvements Education Code Curricula improvements Labs updated Many ICT start-ups Government and political support e-Government services Law on IT parks Communications infrastructure Tekwill
But there is still a gap Industry is still complaining So are the universities It’s quality, not quantity Improve industry - university engagement Further improvements to curricula
Industry - University engagement Participation on governing and management bodies Advice on curricula Provision of case studies, projects Guest and visiting lecturers Internships – for lecturers External examiners Provision of equipment, software, and educational materials Help with teacher training
Curricula improvements More practical work, less theoretical OO programming, Java, C# and C++ Linux, Mobile, Database, Applications Personal skills Foreign languages, especially English
4. Governance of Education Agenda for Action 2012 4. Governance of Education 1. Physical assets 3. Teaching 2. Curricula
Conclusion Good progress Still lots to do Keep up the good work Good luck