Byron Nikolaidis, the man who made Peoplecert certification a "strong asset" in the labor market of 140 countries, is set to take over the leadership of the non-profit European Association of IT Entrepreneurs for four years from 2015. After his election to the top position of CePIS, he talks to us about the problem that professionals themselves set out to solve, with their contribution to the Grand Alliance for Digital Employment. They start with the painful self-knowledge.
CePIS is made up of associations of IT professionals - not businesses - in 32 countries. The busy Nikolaidis has pledged to dedicate 15% of his time to highlighting the role of IT in the economy, to safeguard it and to increase its contribution.
In his first meeting with Greek journalists, Mr. Nikolaidis chose to start with the problem: the distance that separates IT professionals from the needs of a rapidly growing market, such as IT.
There are not enough young, sufficiently skilled IT professionals
The numbers speak for themselves: the new year will find Europe desperately seeking 509,000 skilled people to meet the demands for ICT skills . applicationskills, today the need for something more is evident - application development skills, website design, online services, network support and so many other specialties. In 2020, there will be 913,000 - well-paid, Mr. Nikolaidis assures us - jobs that no European will be able to adequately fill.
While IT jobs are growing rapidly (demand in the EU is estimated to increase by 79.3% over the next five years), the number of IT graduates in Europe is decreasing (similar studies in the US also show similar results). New IT professionals are not being "born".
Today, among those already in such a position, only one in four IT professionals (specifically, even fewer, 23%) have the appropriate skills for the position they hold, and, moreover, only one in five is under 30 years old at European level. In Europe, the average age of IT professionals is 42 years, with the youngest professionals being found in Belgium - but they are on average 37 years old - and the oldest in the Netherlands (50 years old).
Female IT professionals needed
Thus, not only are today's IT professionals aging and facing a problem of insufficient skills to maintain their position, in addition, there are no young people, adequately equipped, to fill the increased positions that are being created. In order to fill the gap, not only must existing professionals be trained and the number of new IT professionals increased, but also women must enter the profession.
In Greece, although research shows that supply and demand only differ by 1,000 jobs, the problem lies in skills. As for female IT professionals, the percentage is limited to 10%.
Me, who lacks qualifications?
To support all of this, the European Council of Information Technology Professionals Associations (CePIS, pronounced “sipis”) is here to provide a useful tool.
There, you are asked to define yourself in the five sections of the profession and evaluate your knowledge in the individual clearly defined criteria. At the end, you will be able to place yourself among other professionals in your specialty and see to what extent you fall short and where you need to strengthen your knowledge if you want to improve your career prospects.
Why don't children to become "computer scientists"?
From these data emerges the need to raise awareness in society, so that it recognizes what choosing IT as a profession can offer to the professional development of young people.
At a higher level, the sector already contributes 6% of European GDP and contributes to a 50% increase in productivity - productivity that is increased thanks to the use of technology.
However, "digital skills" are not an asset today, they are a must. An asset today is the ability to develop applications - at any stage of the process, starting from the analysis of IT projects -, networks, online services, since in a decade, Mr. Nikolaidis pointed out, these will be considered basic qualifications, with the situation worsening as IT emerges as the backbone of the European economy.
Furthermore, the European Commission has already distinguished and, in the case of the Netherlands, has already measured how much the lack of such skills costs the EU: 19.6 billion to the Dutch economy, according to research by the University of Twente.
Unite because we are lost
The e-competence tool is the contribution of European professionals to the so-called Grand Alliance for Digital Employment of the European Commission, since Professionalism and Skills constitute for CePIS the first strategic axis on which the new Greek president will move in his role.
The second strategic axis for IT professionals in Europe is education, through the Special Interest Network. This network addresses education authorities in each country to help them integrate IT into schools. Its report is already in the offices of education ministers across Europe. In the United Kingdom, it seems to have found receptive ears: Computer Science, in the form of an introduction to algorithmic thinking and problem solving, has already been a subject in primary education since September 2014.
The European Schoolnet Academy runs various online teacher training programs - with large participation from Greece - with truly wonderful activities, even without the use of computers, tablets or smartphones.
Teachers have embraced a multitude of educational activities and, on their own initiative, without any reward or recognition of the skills they have developed for their professional development, they organize the Hour of Code in public schools, participate in European Programming Week (December 8-14), eu.code.org and other projects, with real passion.
Barbie can't code. I'm not Barbie
CePIS also considers it strategically important to attract more women into the profession. A "Women in ICT Task Force" has been established since 2012 to attempt to make the profession more attractive to women.
A CePIS survey has shown that across Europe, only 15% of professionals in the sector are female. In Ireland, the country where many of the industry giants have their European operations based, women have already been convinced, with the highest percentage (22%). In Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands, the chances of finding a woman in technology are minimal (10-11%).
"Greening technologies"
Energy saving is also an area that is given great importance in CePIS. Professionals from ten associations of the Council attempt to highlight the issue and provide businesses with clear recommendations on best practices in the field of green, as they are called, IT technologies, particularly important in the era of cloud computing and the ever-increasing number of servers.
The European patent portfolio and security in the era of the Snowden revelations
The new president of the Association also has two other important issues on his agenda: legal issues and security. The legal issues concern the protection of the copyrights of the creators of applications and/or material, an issue on which opinions vary.
The special group established at CePIS deals not only with this but also with the big issue of the era of the Snowden revelations, the security and confidentiality of data. Mr. Nikolaidis appeared particularly sensitive to this issue, distinguishing the risks from the interception, for example, of the geographical location data of each of us who without a second thought trust potentially inadequate security professionals.
"We can be pioneers, even if we are laggards"
Byron Nikolaidis appeared convinced that Greece can transform from a laggard to a pioneer. “We don’t need money to achieve this,” he will tell us, “other countries, such as neighboring Turkey, have set similar goals.” “Technology could be a strategic pillar of the Greek economy, alongside tourism,” he dares to argue, citing as shining examples other countries, such as Israel, or domestic examples of companies that expanded internationally, such as Intralot, or his own Peoplecert.
Without omitting the need to increase the percentage of investment in Research and Development from 0.78% of GDP today, Mr. Nikolaidis referred in the best possible terms to the important work done by the Greek association of professionals, HePIS.
The… Hippies in schools
With the crucial and effective contribution of HePIS, IT professionals will attempt to show 30,000 students what it means to be an IT professional and challenge them to choose it, dispelling myths about complexity and gender stereotypes. And then, who knows, education in Greece may be reformed. tech.in.gr will bring you information about the actions being organized, while an innovative contribution by Greek professionals to familiarization with programming is expected soon, addressing young children as well as those who will choose coding for life.
Anthi Panagiotaki, @anthi
Source: tech.in.gr
