In the past, graduates could start as programmers where they spent most of their time in coding, testing then eventually developed their skills in design, architecture to become technical leaders, senior engineers, system analysts. In parallel with their technical skills, they also learned about business skills such as budgeting, financing, and managing and advanced to project managers, senior managers and eventually Chief Information Officers (CIO).
Today, the business world does not follow this path of logic as the market demands are changing quickly with globalization. Graduates are expected to know these skills immediately because the demand is changing faster than the time required to master these skills. This gap is widen as more graduates leave university with good technical skills but no opportunity to develop the skills required for the role of the IT professionals. A bachelor degrees in software or information technology alone are no longer the guaranteed to an IT career they once were. Software companies are outsourcing most coding and testing to cheaper offshore countries and focusing on the managing aspects that require more business skills than technical skills.
Programming is no longer a long term career path for the graduates and the opportunity to gradually moving up to other jobs. Instead, graduates need to move straight into jobs that require both technical and business knowledge such as project management, problem solving, strategic thinking etc. Of course, that is asking a lot of students as they are expected to manage confidently and accurately about subjects in which they have no time to accumulate experience. This may explain the issue that many graduates could NOT find jobs even the market still have many openings. A vice president of a large software company in the U.S told newspapers: “I do not need programmers, they can be hired from oversea at much cheaper rates. What I need is people who could manage projects and deliver quality products quickly and professionally”. That statement enraged many graduates who complained that after spending years in schools then found out that what they have learned are no longer needed. After many debates, the conclusion is focusing on the changing job market and the quick adaptation of schools to accommodate these changes. The final verdict” “It is the school that fail students NOT the industry or the market”. A major U.S newspaper declared: “Students need to look at the training program carefully and select schools that are well positioned with flexible programs that can adjust quickly to market changes. A degree is no longer a guarantee but the training programs itself that can make the different between good jobs and the unemployment line”.
Even well known countries who have succeed in IT outsourcing such as India and China also took notice of these changes. Instead of focus on the demand of coding and testing, they are switching more into managing as it is much more profitable than programming. In the past few years, India has outsourced most coding and testing to other countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam, and even some African countries. A Indian manager explained: “I could double or triple my profits by switching my people into managing IT projects rather than programming. There are more demand on these skills in the U.S and European markets and a software manager makes three to five times more than programmer so why stay in coding and testing? The changing trend of IT outsourcing continues to move from the U.S and Europe to India, China then from there the more profitable areas will stay and the lesser profit areas such as coding and testing will be outsourced to lower cost countries.
The lack of both technical and business skills means that employers in the U.S and Europe are taking a new approach to degree subjects such as computer science and software engineer. They look for people who have the potential to apply technology in an innovative ways that support strategic business goals and priorities rather than just pure technical. The demand is switching to such people who have taken trainings in information systems management who understand enough of the technology to make informed business decisions. Instead of looking for technical experience, companies now value knowledge gained in business functions such as service management, requirements management and customer relationship management. Students who have taken some accounting and finance courses or resource planning, project management would be better than more programming languages.
According to recent industry survey, such demands are growing fast, not just because of the need to align technology and business strategies, but because there is a shortage of good business management skills within the IT industry itself. For many years, the IT industry is managed by technical people but the change in the global market and the financial crisis have changed everything. Increasingly, IT has a seat at the corporate board and is now seen as a strategic, rather than purely operational function. To survive the 21st century global market, every company will need such talent management team who possess both technical and business skills. If universities cannot equip IT graduates with these skills, then companies must instead turn to bring in these skills from wherever they can find as they need to improve their business. The most logical solution is “outsourcing” technical works to others, and “insourcing” talents from other countries to run their business as more companies are hiring talents from oversea than ever before.
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Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
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Source: SEGVN
