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InnovationFebruary 4, 2008 | Year 2 | Number 21A way of lifeBy Jaime Parada  Trips illustrate, and the one we recently took to India, for the purpose of knowing how the Information Technology (IT) industry works, gave us the criteria to define an action plan that will allow us to make a stronger effort in our project of transforming Nuevo Leon into a global and strategic software supplier. This topic is crucial because the IT sector is one of the five areas promoted by the Monterrey, International City of Knowledge (MICK) Program aimed at transforming the production map of the State. Nuevo Leon is shaping up as an interesting development pole for software technology. We already have a strong and well organized local industry. This has motivated companies from India, such as Infosys, Wipro, Sasken, and Aricent, the most important in the field, to get established in our state as a response to their customers’ request. We have been able to take advantage of our enviable geographic position and our cultural proximity to the world’s largest market. So much so that various collaboration agreements between Nuevo Leon and India were signed during this trip. The challenge now is to have enough supply of qualified human capital. Indian businessmen are longing for success. They are willing to go wherever opportunities exist, but they are very demanding regarding talent development. For example, Infosys has 100 hectares devoted to train 10,000 individuals each year. Several years ago, India discovered that IT businesses quickly absorb well qualified professionals in huge quantities. This is the reason for India to assign top priority to education as a trigger for economic growth. We cannot be left behind. Last year, the universities, businesses, and government launched a campaign to reposition IT careers as the best option for those who want to work in an expanding field. As a complementary strategy, the IT Talent Development Institute in Nuevo Leon will begin operations this year. Its role will be to attract and retrain those who studied an IT career but are not practicing, and engineers from other areas who want to make incursions into the Information Technology sector. Nuevo Leon has enough critical mass and quality to make the great leap and, if we do things well, we will accomplish great things.
TALENT DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE IN NUEVO LEONA RACE AGAINST TIMEBeginning this year, local universities will join in an initiative to impart programs focused on accelerated development of qualified personnel for the software industry.
The market cannot wait any longer… Local software development companies require specialized personnel. The United States urgently needs highly qualified human capital. Foreign companies being established in Mexico expect to find qualified talent. In the short term (2008-2010), the demand for engineers for the software industry will not be met with IT graduates from universities in Nuevo Leon. “This creates a deficit that we must solve now, before we run of time,” warns Guillermo Safa, General Director of the Council for the Development of Software Industry of Nuevo Leon, A.C. (Csoftmty). New programs focused on the accelerated formation of professionals are needed; and this need gave birth to the IT Talent Development Institute in Nuevo Leon. The proposal was submitted last year by the Csoftmty, an organism formed by universities, businesses, and the government.
The objective is to expeditiously prepare software developers with the skills and quality required to meet the current and potential needs of international markets. The curriculum, which is still in the development process, will be based on schemes created and applied by global companies that hire graduates from any field and train them in less than 18 weeks. Even though the IT Talent Development Institute will be a separate legal entity, in the beginning it will not have its own facilities since the universities and institutes will use their own infrastructure to impart classes. The certificate course will last six months at the most. The first one will start in June with a group of 30 people. New groups of 30 individuals will be incorporated in various institutions each month, thus there will be a continuous flow of graduates. “Based on the projections, we will have 19 groups and a total of 570 students during 2008,” indicated Safa. This system offers several advantages: minimum investment in physical infrastructure; flexibility to create short-term, low-cost customized courses; fostering of cooperation between government, businesses, and educational institutions; and better use of human and material resources at academic institutions. “Nuevo Leon has the great opportunity of transforming itself into a global supplier of IT services,” stated Blanca Treviño, President of the Softtek company. At the same time, this creates new jobs and a demand for professionals that is much higher than the supply. “We are not talking only about strengthening current IT institutions and careers, but about creating different programs and schemes in order to expedite the incorporation of more professionals into this labor market,” said Treviño, who is also President of the Council for the Development of Software Industry of Nuevo Leon. Carlos Bernardo Garza, Graduate Academic Coordinator and Coordinator of the IT Business Incubator at FIME-UANL, said that the most important universities of Nuevo Leon are working together to make the State a development pole for human capital and software. The creation of the Institute is the first step towards achieving that goal. “It is estimated that approximately 25,000 IT jobs will be needed in the next few years,” he mentioned. “We could say that there is no unemployment in this activity. If there is any unemployment it is because of the obsolescence of knowledge in this discipline.” “The Institute must standardize the definition of IT roles for professionals to be certified based on their functions and capacities. For example, software architect, tester or programmer, among others,” said Hector Gonzalez, President of Kernel Technologies Group. “It is also important to homologate the degrees offered by the academic institutions, whether they provide higher, middle, or technical education, in order to standardize the graduates’ profile. Thus, businesses may receive graduates who are able to immediately join the work force. This will produce significant savings in training,” explained the entrepreneur. Safa pointed out that the lack of resources should not be an obstacle to enroll in the Institute. This is the reason for creating a Scholarship Fund with the support of universities, leading organisms, various institutions, and the government. As part of the Institute’s implementation strategy, a mission from Nuevo Leon traveled to India a few weeks ago to become familiar with the facilities and methodologies of the companies that have the most advanced programs for the preparation of professionals.  Curricular ProfileThe accelerated talent development programs for the software industry must have these characteristics:
Do you want to know what IT careers are offered in Nuevo Leon? Just visitwww.ti.org.mx. . . India and Nuevo Leon
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© Copyright Nuevo Leon State Government. The logo and the name “Monterrey, International City of Knowledge” are registered trademarks with the Mexican Institute of Intellectual Property. | ||||||||
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