Researching the demand of ICT profiles and digital skills among Bulgarian Companies ​ Prof. Krassen Stefanov, Albena Antonova  ​ Logo Syntra West toevoegen Logo SBM?

Presentation overview The scope of the research Companies profiles and characteristics ICT profiles in demand Strategies to attract ICT experts Role of ICT training providers Main outcomes and lessons’ learned

Motivation The lack of ICT experts has a negative effect for further digital transformation of the Bulgarian economy both for: ICT companies All other companies;

Scope of the research: “Social innovations for digital skills to the changing labour market” The project SIDiSk aims to propose an innovative approach for human resource development and better adaptation of the target group (employed, including self-employed and employers) to the processes of digital transformation. The proposed model for social innovations development and transfer aims at solving both the problem of the lack of qualified workforce in the ICT sector, through an innovative training, qualification and inclusion of the target group and supporting its adaptation to the changing labour market.

General data of the respondents Dates: 1/1/2019-1/2/2019 Online questionnaire, available on: https://goo.gl/forms/ojBo9U6XMpGZxLc13 Number of completed questionnaires: 112 Profile of the companies: SME 77%; bigger companies - 23% Private companies: 91% Public – 7%, NGO -1% In Bulgaria, respondents were 27,7% HR Manager 31% Manager 16% IT Manager 11% ICT expert 14% others Explain but not part of the presentation? Left out: type of organisation, because in Belgium 100% private companies  different in other countries? Left out: number of IT specialists 27,7% HR Manager 31% Manager 16% IT Manager 11% ICT expert 14% others

Company Core business

Number of IT experts in companies

Profiles of IT Experts in DEMAND Developer (77%) DevOps Engineer (42,9%) Business analyst (31%) UX Designer (30%) Data analyst (28,6%) Network/System Engineer (26%) Consultant (25,9%) Cyber security (23%) QA & QA Engineers 1% Software architects 1% SEO + marketing 1% Social Media content 10% Specific skills lacking in your organisation: wide variety  give additional explanation, but not part of the presentation? QA are not among the priorities for BG companies;

Specific profiles Java, C++, C#, JavaScript, AngularJS, .NET, PHP, Xamarine, Python, IoT, Perl Rare languages: Scala, Sitecore, Sitefinity Mean Stack technologies (NodeJS) System design & solution design Oracle Dev, SQL, Oracle ERP Admin, Linux, Unix Microsoft technologies - .Net, Microsoft SQL Server, MVC, ASP.NET Web API, Web Forms. Open Source technologies - PhP, NodeJS, MySQL. Front-End & HYBRID MOBILE technologies - AngularJS, JavaScript etc. Business Intelligence, embedded systems algorithms Automation QA specialists

The insights Bulgaria 68%: IT Department knows very well what are the gaps and needed ICT skills 36% use job rotation schemes 35% hire people who have done internships in their company Use free-lancers – 13% Outsource ICT projects – 9% Please select the statements which match the insight of IT-needs in your organisation; (multiple options possible)

Recruitment of IT Experts How is it done at present + efficiency rate? The 5 most important ones: External site for job offers – 77% (efficiency 47%) Social media - 70% (efficiency 34%) Job offers on own website - 67% (efficiency 17%) Internships – 54% (efficiency 35%) Job fairs – 51% (efficiency 28%) Cooperation with schools - 39% (efficiency 24%)

Finding the IT Experts

Work-based learning How many companies do offer WBL? 47% no 53% yes Attitude towards WBL? A lot of models for WBL: usually learning on the job, practice- and project-oriented.

Collaboration with training providers YES 50% Collaborate with training providers; 28% - organize work-based learning for youngsters and/or unemployed in cooperation with training providers NO 24% organize work-based learning for youngsters and/or unemployed but without any cooperation with schools and training providers. 24% - know the schools and training providers, but don’t have good idea what IT trainings they organize.

IT Experience Companies that have hired someone without prior IT experience, whether they would do it again/considering it. 69% - Yes, and will do this again 20% - No, and we will not do this

IT skills vs attitude Both are important – 68% Attitude – 30% Technical knowledge – 2%

Criteria to select candidates Studious and hard-working – 87% Appropriate soft skills – 86% Fluent English Language – 80% Fluent Bulgarian – 34% Qualification – 32% Diploma (bachelor/master) – 30% Elaborate on whether these criteria are relevant for all functions or job-specific

Role of Education/training centers Once hired, we still have to teach graduates too many skills before they can really work professionally– 67% We prefer experience above diploma – 61% We feel educators could do better than what they do now – 43% Educators have little insight in what the labor market needs – 38% 3% - Educators are doing a great job as graduates have the skills we need

Role of Education/training centers

Internal trainings How would you evaluate the training and learning program(s) for staff you have within the company? We give proposals of trainings and personal development to our employees – 55% Employees have to make their own proposals on training and learning – 45% We insource as much as possible for training and learning – 44% We have a yearly budget for training and learning programs for every staff member – 34% Outsource training – 17% No training offered – 10%

Internal trainings

Retention of IT Professionals 38% Every year we have at least 1 IT employee who leaves our company to work for a bigger company 30% of the IT professionals are contacted by competitors! (in BG) 47% organize yearly interviews with the IT staff to get feedback on how they feel and perform 42% could improve career guidance and personal development in the organization

Retention of IT Professionals

Future cooperation How many companies want to collaborate in the framework of this project? Yes: what options are especially popular? 48% - Testify in schools about IT-jobs 45% - To be part of a national Employable IT-experts network 43% - To train someone in the company on ICT skills through work-based learning 40% To cooperate in a communication campaign to attract girls to IT

Conclusions ICT companies are open to cooperate with universities. There is a gap between ICT education and work: internships, on-the-job trainings; Possible cooperation programs between companies and individual trainers;

Thank you for your attention!