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Friday, 29.03.2024, 15:46
Solutions dictated by the need for IT professionals: from non-formal education to corporate academies
Retraining is driven by an extremely strong motivation
Photo A. Aleksandravicius, Kaunas Coding school, Present Connection |
Not by chance this summer, Kaunas Coding School triumphed in
the K.A.V.A. 2019 (Kaunas Growing Business Awards) category Kaunas is Proud.
Kaunas Coding School is the only adult retraining school in Lithuania that
focuses solely on adults and their career in IT.
In Kaunas alone, over 750 people have graduated from this
school's various training programs and, as the school's headmaster Justina
Kugytė notes, the number of graduates is growing every year, "The scale of
non-formal education is increasing along with the growing awareness among
people that there is a need for continuous improvement and learning and that
you might face tasks that require the knowledge in IT, in any area of your
life."
In addition to the growing number of groups attending the
school, the variety of programs is also expanding. Just a few months ago the
School of Data Analytics - the Data School - was launched here. The need for it
was dictated by obvious market trends showing a growing need for these
professionals.
"To make their work more effective, companies across
sectors, face data and discover tools that help manage that data. Medical,
legal, or finance sectors require data analysts to help companies become more
efficient. Five groups of students have already completed this training, among
which we had many diverse final theses - from sales forecasting to forecasting
in the medical sector," J. Kugytė says.
The school's model is unique in that it involves adults who
have no previous experience in the field of IT. Although they come from a wide range
of professions, the students have two important things in common - the desire
to enter the IT market and very strong motivation.
"One thing we have noticed over the years is that when
a person decides to change their profession, his or her decision is undoubtedly
driven by strong motivation. This is obvious both during the studies and later
at work. That is why our students are so valued by partner companies that later
invite aspiring graduates with relevant skills to work for them. What's more,
they bring the so-called soft skills from the former professions, for example,
they know how to work in a team setting, understand what are projects and how
to manage them, and so on," J. Kugytė claims.
In total, Coding School has about 150 partner companies in
Lithuania, 60 of them in Kaunas. Some of these partners are IT companies, while
others are businesses of different profiles with their own IT departments.
On the 29th of February, Coding School will host the first
tech fair for employers - Tech Fair 2020, where companies will be able to
present themselves to the employees who are retraining and invite them to join
the quick job interviews. The first such fair will take place in Vilnius and
later it is expected to be organized in Kaunas as well.
Retrained employees help with the growth
One of the successful examples of the partnership between
adult retraining institutions and business is that graduates who have received
vocational training at Kaunas Coding School find employment and continue their
career at Present Connection. Programmers of this company include former
biotechnology and food technology specialist, a chemical engineer, metalworker
and so on. The company currently employs 19 of them.
"It is no secret that experienced specialists are still
lacking in Kaunas. That's why we put a lot of effort into cultivating them. We
implement partnerships, organize training academies, collaborate with
universities and other organizations. Only in this way we can ensure that we
will be able to offer our services to the clients abroad and warrant their
quality," Domantas Jovaišas, Head of Present Connection says.
Academy that lures back the emigrants
NFQ founded 18 years ago, an international company of digital
innovation, is implementing large-scale web development, business
digitalization, business intelligence, data science projects, and is in dire
need of IT professionals. The NFQ
Academy, which was launched in 2012 not only helps the company to attract
talent but also contributes to the development of the Lithuanian community of
programmers.
The principle behind the NFQ Academy is simple: it is a
bridge between the university and the real world of professionals, a 3
month-long accelerator of theoretical and practical knowledge. Students are
given homework with the assistance of NFQ specialists who also give necessary
lectures; they are also put in teams curated by mentors.
For a long time, studies were organized in several cities,
but from 2019 the autumn program was merged and lectures were broadcast live,
connecting IT students in all three cities - Kaunas, Vilnius, and Šiauliai.
"We are the first in Lithuania to offer distance
learning for emigrants with the opportunity to return to their homeland and
pursue a career in the IT sector. The idea was dictated by our own insights:
many high-level specialists working in our company have returned to create and
work in Lithuania after living abroad. I was among them. Having worked in the
UK and Australia for seven years, I have convinced myself that the world
Lithuanian community is full of talented people with an exceptional experience,
who have graduated from the best universities. Their knowledge can produce
added value to Lithuania and they would be happy to work in our technology
sector. All we have to do is create the right reasons and opportunities for
these talents to realize their potential. According to the Lithuanian
Department of Statistics, more than 463 thousand Lithuanians live abroad, so we
are sending the message that a talented and motivated person is needed in
Lithuania, and the NFQ Academy can be a great reason and motivation to
return," Petras Janulevičius, the Academy's coordinator, says.
In total, since 2012, 650 people have graduated from NFQ
Academy. Over 120 of them were employed by NFQ and HomeToGo. Today, most of
them are high-level experts in mid/senior programming positions and are working
on large projects. This fall, the Academy received applications from at least
10 different foreign countries, from England, Romania to the United Arab
Emirates. 4 Lithuanians successfully graduated from the 16th edition, 3 of them
are actively participating in a recruitment process. In 2020, NFQ intends to
continue this mission and hopes to discover talent not only in Lithuania.
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