In software development, there is no unemployment, there is a lack of professionals

One of the biggest concerns of the software industry in Colombia, so booming these days, is the lack of human talent in the country: there are many more professionals, technicians and technologists than the tech industry requires those on the market. .

According to Ximena Duque, executive president of Fedesoft, this is the only sector that has no unemployment, as companies continue to seek human talent to fill their vacancies.

For this reason, the union has planned a strategy that aims to minimize, as far as possible, the human talent gap, taking into account that it is not just about Colombia, but that the rapid expansion of technology companies in the world goes much further, faster than professional training.

“We have created an initiative within the Federation called Inspira IT Talent. There, we work on everything related to supply and demand, but competitiveness is closely linked to the development of talent, without talent there is no competitiveness, and our industry today has a gap between 70,000 and 165,000 professionals,” says Duque.

To bridge this gap somewhat, from Fedesoft, they connect industry with universities that offer tech careers, to discuss and offer practical and viable strategies to increase youth entry, tenure, and graduation.

According to his logic, Colombia has been a country that has been characterized by a good level of education and that has helped the few graduates to be very good, which is why many companies are starting to consider Colombia as a country of technology, which is added that there is an ecosystem in Medellín, Bogotá and Cali.

And it is that it is increasingly urgent to fill vacancies so that companies continue to arrive in the country and do not become a barrier that pushes them to turn to other markets.

Another of the projects being carried out are the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, for its acronym in English) territories in collaboration with the Ministries of ICT and Education. “We need to connect all of this flow from an early age to start developing talent, because right now what our businesses need to grow and be competitive locally and internationally is to have people prepared with the required skills.”

And business people themselves also have a key role to play in this area, as they have realized the need to nurture their own human talent and devise strategies to retain it, in a highly competitive ecosystem.

Another of the difficulties that the sector faces in filling its vacancies is bilingualism, in which the country is still in debt. Even last week, EL COLOMBIANO explained how those who do not have access to the second language lose the possibility of earning 30% more salary.

“Technological growth is closely linked to certain literatures that are not yet in Spanish, so it is almost mandatory to be up to date in this sector to know English, all certifications and accreditations are done in this language. is another gap that we urgently need to close, but we know it will only happen in the long term,” says Duque.

“You would think that Colombia is behind in terms of technological implementation, the truth is that an ecosystem has also been fostered at the governmental level that ranges from innovation, science, technology and that has enabled a market to exist, and when there is a market, the companies and the programs that promote them also start to appear,” explains the union leader.

Something similar happened in Argentina, although with different internal conditions, according to Duque, in this country there are “digital monsters” heavily exploited by foreign markets, steps that are followed in Chile and Mexico. Colombia is following very closely.

“We are a country of businesses with implementation needs, but also with a government that has shaped public policy that has been digitized. And these programs that have been promoted from the national order have irrigated the whole country, ”explains Duque.

And what the sector has achieved, incidentally, with all the rise of technology companies, better known as startit’s that the social gaps are starting to close, because it’s already been proven that the only thing needed to generate wealth is a good head and a computer.

And here government commitment is very important, according to the labor leader, whom President Iván Duque refers to as the country as Latin America’s Silicon Valley puts Colombia on the map, although it clearly isn’t. .