Re: Growing ICT talent (was stage of development)

From: Vy-Shane Sin Fat <shane_at_node.mu>
Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 23:02:02 +0800

On Sat, Feb 27, 2016 at 7:09 AM, S Moonesamy <sm+mu_at_elandsys.com> wrote:

>
> Industry Trends
>> How about industry trends? It pays to be ahead of the curve. Where are we
>> heading and what should we be looking into? The following is an opinionated
>> writeup based on what I'm seeing. It is obviously coloured by the space
>> that I'm in: startup tech companies, non-enterprise, unix back-end, mobile
>> front-end.
>>
>
> This is linked to skills which will be in demand. Don't choose popular;
> it is better to have a skill which will distinguish you from the other
> candidates for a job. What you learned at university is yesterday's
> technology. It is up to you to keep up with industry trends and to find
> out what the industry is or will be looking for.
>

The really valuable skills aren't tied to specific technologies. For
example, is it better to be an expert Linux sysadmin, or is it better be be
an expert at building scalable systems? Maybe that it's not a fair
comparison. It's harder to become an expert at the latter. I believe that
the best combo is having a broad base and the ability to ramp up quickly
when having to learn a new technology. When faced with the task of building
a mobile application, if the expert web developer automatically reaches for
Cordova, then the best app that he will be able to come up with will
probably be fairly mediocre. Isn't it better to embrace the target platform
instead and build a native app?


> Why do I need a system administrator or software developer when I can set
> up a web site on Wix? It's cheaper.
>

It depends how close to the core of your business your website is. If you
are running a restaurant, then almost any website will do. The most
important thing is for your customers to be able to find you online.
However, if you are running an eCommerce website, then the website is at
the core of your business. So you invest appropriately. It's part of your
competitive advantage.


> In a different thread a person mentioned getting a "corporate" job. Won't
> that regular job be outsourced in future?


The enterprise space is more prone to outsourcing. A bank will be willing
to outsource its IT needs if it can save money. A bank considers IT as a
necessary evil, a cost of business. I've heard grumblings about Australian
IT jobs being outsourced overseas. On the other hand, a technology company
will be reluctant to outsource its main activity. A technology company's
competitive advantage is its ability to execute on IT.


> How does your experience match what is happening in the industry? If you
> are in Mauritius, should you follow the local industry trends? How do you
> do that?
>

My mobile development experience is in the popular category. Mobile
development has recently hit mainstream and demand currently outstrips
supply. It will take a while until there are enough mobile developers to
meet the demand. The technologies that I'm interested in on the back-end
are still fairly niche at the moment.

I think that it is definitely useful to keep abreast of the local industry
trends. Unless you are doing remote work for offshore companies, it pays to
be alert so that you can spot opportunities, or at least have enough
information to be able to plan ahead. However, I wouldn't look to the local
scene to identify interesting technologies. For that I tend to follow
what's happening in the tech industry worldwide. I think that most of us do
that?


> The topic could have been: growing the talent pool. Is it about finding
> another employee to replace you? Yes. It is also about retaining you as
> it is valuable to keep your talent in the company.
>
> Regards,
> S. Moonesamy
>
Received on Mon Feb 29 2016 - 15:02:38 PST