Is there a future for IT professionals in Belgium or any mature market? I predict that in the short term, the future is looking bright, in the mid term, our education system is not prepared for the future and in long term, times may be not so easy for the IT professional...

1. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
A future for the Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
IT professional War for Talent
(?) The S-curve
Bart Van Loon
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2. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Hi! I am Bart. Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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3. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
I’m an entrepreneur
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4. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Ze
rop Computer Science
oin is hot
t.IT Your first job
Pa
kista War for Talent
n The S-curve
I work at Zeropoint.IT, an
offshore IT talent partner
for web developers in Belgium
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Sri
t.IT
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Ze
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5. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
From time to time you’ll find slides like this The S-curve
inserted in the presentation. They are not part
of the actual slide deck. I’m inserting these to
add some context for readers who have not
attended the talk.
You will always find them after the slide they
refer to.
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6. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Computer Science is hot Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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7. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Computer Science is hot Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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8. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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9. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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10. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
Computer science is very hot today. It is clear The S-curve
that we are living through the information era;
this is the digital age.
In the past we have seen revolutions in
architecture, chemistry, mechanics, electronics,
. . . Now is the time of the computer scientists.
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11. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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12. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Many of the largest companies in the Your first job
War for Talent
world are from the IT sector (Apple, IBM,
The S-curve
Microsoft, . . . ). The others are in energy.
Some of the most famous brands are IT
brands (Apple, Microsoft, Facebook,
Google, . . . ). The others are food and
fashion.
The most famous and watched over IPO’s
are in the field of IT (Google, Groupon,
Facebook, . . . ).
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13. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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14. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Slowly, the IT sector is producing role models
which appeal to a wider public. No more nerdy
Bill Gates, but popular Steve Jobs and young
Mark Zuckerberg.
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15. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Computer Science is hot Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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16. A future for the
IT professional (?)
4 functions: Bart Van Loon
1. Architect Computer Science
is hot
2. Consultant
Your first job
3. Project manager War for Talent
4. Specialist The S-curve
4 sectors:
1. Finance
2. ICT
3. Industry
4. Public
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17. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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18. Architect: A future for the
IT professional (?)
methodological Bart Van Loon
industry insight Computer Science
is hot
breadth of technologies
Your first job
Consultant: War for Talent
communication facilitation The S-curve
opportunity identification
research and analysis
Project manager:
business judgement
leadership, relationships
communication, negotiation
Specialist:
designing, developing, building
hands-on solution realisation
tests and implementations 18 of 55

19. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Here, I ask the students which of the four IT
functions they prefer, which profession they
want to pursue. Every time, 80% or more go
for “IT specialist”.
Why?
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20. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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21. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Because there’s a mismatch between what IT
students learn at school, and what the possible
job outcomes are. Nobody in any IT education
programme in Flanders is being formally trained
in the skills required to be a good architect,
consultant or project manager.
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22. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
35% : technical capabilities
25% : personality and leadership
15% : non-technical capabilities
15% : social-economic understanding
10% : ‘recruitable’
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23. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Second mismatch: the complete IT education
package today focuses almost solely on
technical capabilities, where they only account
for 35% of the “perfect profile”1 .
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Based on a September 2011 study by IBM in Belgium

24. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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25. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
Third issue: if we provide the job market with
The S-curve
IT students that only possess “practical”
technical capabilities, we’re not thinking
long-term. No sector changes as fast as the IT
sector.
If you graduated as a computer science engineer
from the KULeuven in 2003 or before, Java was
not (really) covered in your study programme.
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26. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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27. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
One possible solution that could target all three The S-curve
discussed issues is to introduce a concept
change in the IT education:
we have to shift from Just in Case
learning to Just in Time learning.
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28. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Computer Science is hot Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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29. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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30. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
VDAB: computer scientist has been listed as a
critical profession for 10 years
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31. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Agoria: “shortage of 10.000 ICT-professionals in
Belgium (out of 100.000 active)”
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32. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Agoria: “in 2010, the number of computer
science students in Dutch-speaking education
fell by 9.5%”
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33. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
European Commission: “The number of IT
graduates has not increased since 2008. [. . . ]
The EU may lack 700.000 IT professionals by
2015.”
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34. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
10 most wanted profiles on vacature.com:
Computer Science
is hot
1. Industrial engineer Your first job
War for Talent
2. Civil engineer The S-curve
3. Technical graduate
4. Account manager
5. Administrative assistant
6. ICT engineer
7. Consultant
8. Programmer
9. Project manager
10. IT consultant
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35. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
Well prepared by school or not, IT students all
War for Talent
find a great job, often before graduating.
The S-curve
There is a war waging on the Belgian IT labour
market. A real war:
new recruits get crazy perks
talent is being bought away by competitors
people are even incentivised for mere job
interviews
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36. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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37. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
These are your competitors for that IT job in
Belgium.
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38. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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39. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Computer Science is hot Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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40. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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41. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
By now it may seem that the future of the IT
professional is looking so bright that even this
guy could get a consulting job, right?
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42. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
“The flip” War for Talent
The S-curve
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43. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Be careful, and think about “the flip”2 .
Nothing ever keeps on growing exponentially.
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Look up “The new normal” by Peter Hinssen!

44. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
The
new
normal
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45. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
My oldest Facebook contact was born on 14th
November 1926. He has 104 “friends”.
He did all of this himself. No IT professional
whatsoever was required.
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46. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
When newspapers were getting popular, War for Talent
we needed people to read them for us in The S-curve
the streets. Now, everybody can read.
When typewriters were getting popular, we
needed typists to operate them for us.
Now, everybody can type.
Now computers are getting popular, we
need IT professionals to make them useful
for us. Soon, everybody . . .
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47. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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48. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
Now, add the cloud into the equation. This is
decreasing the dependency of companies on
(local and expensive) IT professionals.
“Capgemini takes VDAB to the cloud with a
successful migration to Google Apps, saving an
estimated e 500,000 a year.” (2011)
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49. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
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50. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
The world is flat. Larger companies are already War for Talent
recruiting worldwide as if it were locally. Wim The S-curve
Leers from Hasselt did his student internship at
Facebook in the USA. Google Summer of Code
is a covert talent hiring operation.
Offshoring IT operations has been a reality for
a over decade now. Organising offshore teams
of IT professionals is becoming easier and
easier. Also for small(er) companies3 .
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Check out http://zeropoint.it! :-)

51. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
War for Talent
The S-curve
The understanding
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52. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
My prediction: after “the flip”, we’ll get to Computer Science
is hot
“the understanding”. Companies in mature Your first job
markets will understand how they can reduce War for Talent
their local IT workforce, as The S-curve
every single employee will be more
acquainted with IT
the cloud will allow sharing IT professionals
concentrated in a few specialised
companies anywhere on the planet
super easy access to international talent
will decrease the treshold to outsource
offshore4
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If you haven’t checked http://zeropoint.it yet, then do it now ;-)

53. A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
So, is there a future for the IT professional in Your first job
Belgium? War for Talent
The S-curve
In the short term: yes, and it’s looking
bright!
In the mid term: okay, it will become a
profession like any other
In the long term: no, make sure to prepare
and re-educate for a different kind of IT
professionalism need in Belgium
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54. Hi! I am Bart. You can reach me at: A future for the
IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
(+32) 472/94.14.34 Computer Science
is hot
bart@zeropoint.it Your first job
War for Talent
@b b b a r t The S-curve
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55. A future for the
References and credits IT professional (?)
Bart Van Loon
Computer Science
is hot
Your first job
http://www.agoria.be/. . . / War for Talent
Future of IT Professionals in Mature Markets.pdf The S-curve
http://ec.europa.eu/commission 2010-
2014/. . . /background sources en.pdf
Jason Freeny from Moist Production
Julien Tromeur (julosstock) from http://sxc.hu
“The new normal” by Peter Hinssen
http://vacature.com
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