Revolution is ripening in Belarus ... IT-shnaya

    About 3 years ago, Igor Mamonenko, general director of the well-known Belarusian company BelHard, proposed a draft concept for the National Program for the Creation in Belarus of one of the world software development centers IT-COUNTRY. A few months ago, the concept was approved by the Council of Ministers and discussed at a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister. She is currently being considered by the Presidential Administration. If the draft concept is approved, then in the coming months we will begin mass retraining for IT-specialists. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the program affects not only and not so much current IT specialists as everyone who wants to get the appropriate knowledge and skills, but mainly accountants ...

    The effect of the “Indian miracle”


    The development and supply of software (software) for an external customer (outsourcing) is today one of the most dynamically developing types of business, because the volume of services using IT technologies has increased by 20-30 percent every year for the last ten years! Countries that realized this on time are now making good money. For example, in 2009, India exported $ 50 billion worth of IT services!
    How did this become possible? In 1998, an IT committee, the IT Task Force, was established under the Government of India. He proposed a 10-year development program for the information technology industry. Within the framework of it, it was planned to develop modern telecommunication networks capable of providing data transmission within the country and abroad; introduce information technology in all spheres of life within India itself (now the volume of IT projects for own needs reaches $ 6 billion annually). But the main thing is to achieve in 10 years the volume of IT exports of $ 50 billion (the latter became possible with a delay of 1 year).
    Moreover, most of the new specialists were trained practically from scratch (it is no secret that in India only 6.54 percent of the population have higher education, 35.7 percent of the population are completely illiterate), the annual staff deficit was 200 thousand people. The education system for the needs of the industry was created in a limited time and burst at the seams from the influx of people wishing to escape from poverty. Nevertheless, thanks to the project, more than 2 million IT people of various specialties and qualifications appeared, and today India is considered to be the No. 1 provider of outsourcing services worldwide. The total capitalization of the Indian IT market exceeds $ 225 billion.

    300 thousand accountants retrain into programmers ...


    Unfortunately, there are only 25 thousand Belarusian IT employees. Although Belarus’s share in the global export of IT services has grown more than five times over the past 7 years, it still remains relatively low - 0.1 percent. The total volume of exports of IT services is $ 159.1 million. Igor Mamonenko believes that Belarus, being in the center in the center of Europe, and having almost 50 percent of the working population with higher and secondary specialized education, is entitled to expect more. In his opinion, having retrained about 300 thousand people to various IT specialties, we can increase the volume of export of IT services by $ 7 billion!
    The industry can be provided with new human resources through retraining of specialists from other areas of economic activity - people who, in principle, would like to change their occupation, as well as ... accountants. The latter sounds a little frightening, but Igor Mamonenko asks to recall the beginning of the 1990s. Then our country gained independence, a market economy began to develop, small enterprises began to emerge rapidly. Each such enterprise, regardless of its size, was supposed to have a director, chief accountant, a bank account and a seal. Former technologists, physicists, chemists, mechanics, teachers and workers of other industries of the once-almighty massively mastered the skills of the accountant profession
    socialist economy. Over 10 years, more than 300 thousand accountants have been trained. Moreover, then computers for many were a curiosity. We have actually successfully passed the path of large-scale retraining.
    Today in Belarus there are about 400 thousand accountants. Their jobs and salaries cost our country more than $ 3 billion annually. According to the World Bank, on average 900 hours a year are spent on bookkeeping of an enterprise in Belarus. The World Bank recommends reducing this figure to 160 hours (for comparison: in China, Sweden, accounting takes 10-50 hours, in the UAE - 12 altogether - the processes are all computerized).
    IT Country offers a phased reduction of all kinds of reporting and phased release of excess staff. For example, once every half a year, legislation will be simplified, on which the volume of work of an accountant depends. We say that in five years we will reach a figure of 50 hours instead of 900. But what will be the route 900 -800-700 ... -50 or 900-750-500 ..- 50 this will be determined by the dynamics of changes in the need for programmers. More programmers will be needed - we will simplify legislation faster. All this is seen as a regulated process.
    Another capacity with personnel reserve is engineering. The introduction of information technology in enterprises will free up about 200 thousand people there for the IT industry. "In total, about 500 thousand people can be freed, 300 thousand of whom will become programmers, and 200 thousand will go to build and maintain infrastructure."

    Become an IT specialist ... KGB tests


    The training process will be preceded by testing aimed at determining the ability of a person to work in principle in the IT field and in which of its 80 specialties. It should be noted that this idea is not new. For example, when hiring IBM, employees can be tested during the day to determine under what conditions the employee will have the highest return. In Belarus, there is an idea to use ... KGB tests. “A review of the world’s existing test systems capable of giving a detailed psychological portrait of a person suggested that our intelligence services have, since the Soviet times, possessed some of the best tests of their kind. We would like to ask the Belarusian KGB to participate in the IT country and, together with us, finalize these tests for the needs of the IT industry. To recognize the ability of a person to be a good project manager, we will compare his test results with the results of really good managers. So in other specialties "
    If the following subjects are close to the “ideal specialist”, they can recommend this specialty. But in any case, the tests will be advisory in nature. Thanks to them, one can generally determine a person’s inclinations: for example, by 5 percent he is a business analyst, by 10 percent by a manager, by 15 percent by a programmer, but in reality he can make a good tester.

    “This is a chance for any intelligent person”


    Today in the IT industry there are 5 basic types of specialties. In addition to programmers (process engineering) and testers (software testing), a very important role in the success of an IT project is played by: project managers (project manager), specialist in quality (software quality assurance) and business analytics (business analytic). The existing IT education system in Belarus prepares mainly programmers and testers - as a result, the situation with these personnel in our situation is more or less. But representatives of other specialties are in acute shortage. In fact, these specialists are already studying in the process of working for companies. “Meanwhile,” says Igor Viktorovich, “the success of the project up to 80 percent depends on the manager”
    The training system for managers is three-level. The first level is a team leader of 3-5 people - team leader (an analogue of the squad leader in the army). The second level is the head of one project - the project manager (officer). And the third level is the coordinator of several projects - project coordinator (general). But since from 1 to 1000 people can participate in one project, the basket of necessary knowledge for the leader can vary greatly.
    A business analyst is a person who is negotiating with a customer figuring out what the final software product should be. The result of his work is a document that sets out customer requirements for software. In the future, this document will be a guide to action for programmers. If the business analyst does not correctly understand the customer, then before identifying this error, a lot of unnecessary work can be done, which will have to be corrected already at his own expense. Therefore, a business analyst must know foreign languages, understand the laws of the functioning of society and business, and be sociable. “A good business analyst, negotiating, doesn’t even specify the customer’s wishes as much as offers him a counter list of options known to him from personal experience and from the generalized world, received both in training courses and through specialized information sources. For good business analysts (and the bad ones do not take root there) there is no comic competition between firms. Their salaries along with bonuses can amount to several thousand dollars. In my opinion, this is a good chance for any intelligent person to live interesting and worthy ”
    Specialists in the IT industry also need constant retraining - for some specialties, the curriculum can change by 90% per year, due to the tremendous pace of updating information in the IT industry. The courses themselves, depending on the specialty and its level, can take from 1 to 8 weeks. The training of business analysts has already started in June. For 10 days, the specialists studied on their own, then listened to lectures online. “They had to go through 3 programs:“ business analyst ”,“ teacher for business analyst ”,“ teacher for teacher, ”the source continues. - Out of 2 thousand resumes, several dozen people were selected from those who wanted to study, but only five were admitted to the last exam. In late June, courses for teachers on project management will begin. If you feel a talent in yourself - call.
    To implement the IT-COUNTRY in Belarus, about 2 thousand teachers of various IT disciplines should be trained. The proportion in specialties will depend on how large the share of the Belarusian side will be in the total labor costs for developing software for an external customer. For a mature labor market, the combined share of business analysis and management specialists may exceed 30% of the total number of specialists. In September, we plan to train teachers for the discipline of software quality assurance and further down the list from the most popular specialties to less. Any educational institution in Belarus can train its teachers with us and gain access to educational materials and the latest methods of teaching IT disciplines. It is planned that the benefits of Presidential Decree No. 12 “On HTP” will apply to IT training.
    The main working tool of the project will be a special site with almost daily monitoring of the activities of HTP and Infopark residents on all main indicators. Based on these statistics, the pace of legislative reform will be modeled, affecting the release of personnel from inefficient sectors, and the demand for specialists and for the services of training centers is projected. Those residents who do not want to report will be expelled from the parks.

    Learn on PM in each district center


    But we need further development of the legislative framework in the field of copyright protection, labor legislation, investments, but most importantly - education. Significant benefits are required for those wishing to undergo training so that it would be beneficial for people to study. Today, the cost of training for students of QAI (international center for the training of IT specialists) is $ 10 without VAT per hour. The training course for the “project manager” is 90 hours. That is, training will cost $ 900 without VAT. “We want the opportunity to study was for everyone, regardless of the basic specialty and not only in such large IT companies as IBA, EPAM or BelHard, but also in any district center,” Igor Viktorovich emphasizes.

    “Living and working on a different scale”


    In fact, companies with the number of 20-50 thousand people may appear in the country. According to Igor Mamonenko, companies in the form of an OJSC with self-supporting units are more likely to grow. Belarus will not have enough money for development at such a pace, but we will become attractive to investors in the IT industry. “In India, those who invested $ 1 at the start received $ 45 in 2008,” the source said. - Here, the growth of capitalization may be twice as high. An IT company of 20 thousand people costs 5 billion dollars. We must learn to be effective and generally able to live on a different scale. ”
    One of the most important aspects of the project is external and internal marketing. All communication channels should talk about the fact that Belarus is an ideal place for software development. Here business processes are established, a high degree of informatization, there is IP-telephony, IT visas are issued, providing for a free and prompt visa. Only in this way will foreigners understand that they will not be deceived here, they will do everything in a quality manner, and therefore they must come here. Media campaign will be aimed at creating the image of a new industry and its professions. And this is not just about newspaper articles or interviews on the radio, but also about thematic talk and reality shows that would explain what the advantages of this profession are, how easy or difficult it is to learn a particular specialty, and what are the prospects for specialists.
    “This is a project in which the main is the intellectual potential of the residents of Belarus. We already have it and cannot disappear anywhere. Today we also have the knowledge to tune this intellectual power to the growing needs of the outside world in IT services and IT products. This is the guarantee of our success. ”
    The most important factor in projects of this scale is government support. By the time India reached $ 50 billion in IT exports, China’s figures, which did not have a government support program for the industry, amounted to only 3.3 billion! But our correspondent was assured that the leadership of our state supports the project. Then we are waiting for the official news.

    Julia Khadnevich for oboz.by and habr.ru

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