Human resources revolution in the digitalised world of IT

INTEK’s internship programme has received rave reviews with its in-depth and relevant content

In recent years, the IT labour demand in Vietnam has sharply increased due to the country becoming an attractive rendezvous site for international high-tech companies to set up business and develop related products.

Additionally, the wave of startups and the moves of many businesses to develop innovative products and creative services have led to the establishment of many technology companies, causing a thirst for skilled IT human resources.

According to a 2017 white paper on ICT in Vietnam, over 80,000 IT personnel were working in the field of software technology and 53,000 in IT hardware in the electronics sector. However, this quantity has not met the need as demand rises by 13 per cent every year. IT is now among the sectors with the highest demand for employees.

TopDev’s latest Vietnamese programme report shows that the need for human resources increased by 56 per cent in 2019, synonymously creating nearly 63,000 jobs. But IT workers in enterprises are seriously lacking while the demand for recruiting is about 250,000 employees each year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Information and Communications.

As recruitment expands, especially in urgent positions such as mobile programming, cloud computing, network administration, and security expertise, the IT industry is making increasing gains develop in quantity, quality, and professional requirements. However, the paradox is in the supply and demand of human resources in IT – businesses are always short of labour force, especially high-skilled workers, while many IT students are unemployed or work outside the industry.

The reason, according to Jennie Hoang Phuong, CMO of INTEK technology institute, is that IT training facilities are focusing on teaching theory and little actual practice. Besides that, IT graduates with no practical experience and skills expect high salaries.

“This puts recruiters in difficulties, requiring investments of time and money in training employees to meet the job requirements,” said Phuong.

The attractive popularity and sufficient income compared to the average causes disillusion for new graduates. As reported by Navigos in 2018, fresh graduates with under two years of experience are under the salary range of $380-$540 per month. With seven years of work under their belt, wage demand increases by up to double (usually around $570-$1100 per month). Meanwhile, a ten-year employee can apply for managerial positions and expect a salary of over $1,500 each month. This is also the cause for more than 60 per cent of labour tending to change their job within six months, with 47.5 per cent of those seeking higher incomes elsewhere.

According to Chinh Phan, CEO of INTEK, the current IT education system is still lagging behind while the IT labour market is in very high demand. Unlike other Asian countries, Vietnam has some unique assets and potential: its young population, high-quality elementary and secondary education system available nationwide, and the relatively low cost of living.

Chinh, therefore, said that a full-scale change is required from the training stage to create a new generation of IT engineers in order to keep pace with the rapid development of technology.

Employee revolution

Talking to VIR, Chinh explained, “The government does definitely play a key role in the ecosystem. It has already carried out some key reforms such as encouraging vocational training schools, and boosting internet infrastructure to remote areas. But it can obviously do more by setting up a more flexible legal framework, unlocking silos which will help all key education players work closely together, boosting collective intelligence, and building a future-ready IT labour force.”

As one of the most modern IT training institutes in Vietnam, INTEK has realised the limitations that prevent the success of IT engineers and aims for an advanced training model to change mindsets and create a breakthrough training solution.

Unlike other training facilities, INTEK is geared towards a pedagogical method with the 5-NO model: no teachers, no lectures, no books, no classes, and no fixed hours. Each trainee is considered as an apprentice engineer and the academy is a mock office so that students can quickly get acquainted and have no surprises in an official working environment.

“Our aim is providing mentors instead of teachers, creative spaces instead of classes, daily updated references instead of books, personal timetables, and to be an engineer is to be good at time management,” said Jennie Hoang Phuong. It is being considered a breakthrough learning and training programme that helps INTEK to train quality engineers to meet the requirements of global recruitment units.

In order to learn at INTEK, participants must undergo a strict enrolment and training process to prove that they are capable of development and excellence in the IT world. After passing the IT-based test, students must make it through a 14-day Survival Mode trial, before demonstrating their clear orientation in an interview.

In addition to providing background knowledge and academic skills, INTEK also focuses on soft skills such as sensitive communication, manner flexibility, presentation, and time management so that students can develop outstanding abilities and achieve successful results.

Already INTEK has received positive feedback from its partners – international groups such as Amagumo Labs, Bouygues Construction Information Technology Vietnam, Dirox, IPSIP, Smartec IoT & Elek, and CIIBOS, among others.

“This is the first time I have partnered with INTEK for the internship programme, with only one student,” said CIIBOS founder and director Le Thanh Duc. “However, compared to students from previous years coming from other institutions and universities, the INTEK internship student is of much better quality.”

According to Duc, INTEK’s students have overall a broad range of skill sets that more closely match the real world’s requirements. “I strongly believe that he can easily find an IT job after this internship programme,” Duc said.

Furthermore, to ease the pressure and difficulty for students while studying, the tuition of the INTEK’s apprentice engineers will be paid by investment funds and INTEK’s partners until they go to work, they will slowly pay back with zero interest for four years. After four years, INTEK will stop withdrawing tuition regardless of whether the student has completed it or not because INTEK will have classed their training goal as a failure in that regard.

With the mission to educate and bring the young generation to a future where they master new games, INTEK wishes to foster the young IT generation from their beginnings through the programmes.

“When all this is happening on a flat playing field, the advantage can sometimes be the challenge. Our desire is to create IT warriors for the future. Vietnam will not only be a software outsourcing place for technology corporations but it can create greater value with global-standard IT engineers,” stressed Chinh.

Marc Bregeault - CEO and founder Smartec IoT & Elek In our industry and area of expertise in the Internet of Things, evolution is occuring fast in a broad technological and scientific scope. We therefore need creative and deep science thinkers to build tomorrow’s useful smart devices. Thinking out of the box and problem solving are key assets that students at INTEK have been practicing during their curriculum by carrying out real-world and hands-on projects. These are the skills we are desperately looking for. This year we had the opportunity to take two INTEK interns and four interns from other leading technological schools in Vietnam. Our feedback is very good regarding INTEK student profiles with specific interests in science and innovation as well as in coding norms and agile production cycles. It’s rather rare to report it, so this proves the high quality of the INTEK curriculum. Seeking and keeping talents for an innovative company like ours is a real challenge as the IT labour market is so tense. Therefore, we have decided to set up a win-win partnership with INTEK whereby we get actively involved with the students from the beginning of their curriculum by organising workshops and collaborating on projects. Both parties get to know each other; hence we establish trustful relationships, confidence, and loyalty even before students graduate. With INTEK, we are building this sustainable IT talent pipeline.