Uptime took part in the Taltech Internship Cafe on March and got together with a lot of practical students who were looking for IT practice/internship. Many young people who visited us at the Taltech Internship Café are those who no longer want to jump from one challenge to another, and questions about whether they can only work part-time or work abroad are asked much less. At the same time, we are a bit behind the rest of the world in some cases.
The previous, so-called Y-generation was characterized by a lot of part-time work. They wanted to jump quickly from one challenge to another. But now, the next generation of young people seem to be different.
Before we talk about the backlog mentioned in the introduction, we should look at a study of the occupation and skills of the so-called Z-generation women (currently under 21-year-olds entering the labor market).
The Women in Tech Report (PDF) brings out the latest trend, the commitment of a new generation, but also the skills of new generation, what meet exactly the needs of IT companies now. The survey showed that most women starting a career life are familiar with two of three programming languages, what are the most needed also by companies: Javascript, Java and Python. Of course, the C and C ++ languages are also well-known, as these are usually starting languages when dedicating students to programming.
The new generation has one more peculiarity. They are the first to have meet the digital world right from the very beginning, with a quarter of them already having a smartphone experience before the age of 10. Women born after 1997 have also started programming in youngest age – every third already before the 16th year. This means that they started programming at the same time, when started learning mathematics, which is only positive.
Z-generation women also appreciate much more well-known brands and solid companies, so they differ from the previous generation by not trying to contribute so much to new start-ups.
Another fact that emerged from the study is that 66% of both men and women feel insecure and unprepared for job interviews.
It is no wonder, however, because the experience of job interviews for young people is, in fact, not yet very deep;
There could be more women in IT
Now, what is it that we still need to develop and catch up with the rest of the world with the Z-generation?
In Taltech’s Internship Café, there were more students than before who wanted to start the career of the developer and get to work right away, but there were still few women. There are fewer of them than in the rest of the world, where software development is no longer so men-centered. And as the study shows, the new generation of women in IT is well prepared to get a good job right now in a technology company.
So, when you’re looking for job or practice in the software development field, find a nice team to achieve something together. There are many areas in IT that need to be deepened and focus on knowledge and skills. Software development can include good programming skills, analytics, mathematics as well as design, semiotics and psychology. The Z-generation grew up with the acquisition of these additional skills and programming skills at the same time.
Get in touch with us and talk, because maybe we have a team where your diverse skills, together with early programming experience, fit with other team members like charm. And do not be afraid of job interviews, it´s not scary at all.🙂
