The number of young people in ICT and the changes they’re bringing to the world of data digitization

Author: Dafina Imeraj

Over the last few years, a large number of changes and developments have occurred in the field of ICT in almost every aspect of life. Changes and developments in different life spheres have enabled technology in Kosovo as well. Given the fact that almost everything today is geared towards technology, an important basis in this area is both easy and fast access to data such as the number of young people joining the ICT market both by studies and by the labor market.

Organizing data digitally is one of the most important actions in the ever-evolving data world. Therefore, it is not by chance that the interest of young people in the field of ICT is significantly highlighted, as are the statistics compiled on the online data platform “The FutureWorkplace” which shows that the number of graduates has increased in Kosovo during the last 5 years. in the field of ICT for 49%. At the same time, the number of ICT businesses has also grown significantly — a 187% increase in the number of registered ICT businesses, based on The Future Workplace platform.

This increase in the number of students is also accompanied by increased opportunities for students to pursue further studies. In other words, young people’s interest in a profession in the ICT world is growing exponentially, and the job market is preparing young people for ICT. One of these initiatives is various scholarship programs where young people from Kosovo continue their studies abroad. One of these scholarship programs is ‘Women in Energy’ by Millenium Foundation Kosovo and Millenium Challenge Corporation where the goal is to develop the capacity for digital solutions in the field of Energy in Kosovo.

At the same time, various institutions in Kosovo are also offering different opportunities such as training, workshops, for young people to become familiar with the field of ICT and to be encouraged to continue their engagement in this field. Organizations like VentureUP, among others, provide easy access to the development of skills in many programming languages such as Java, Python, then Web Development practice as well as Social Media Management and Digital Design. Each of these skills is highly sought after by businesses operating in Kosovo. Mostly the focus is on the Front-end Development part where the most sought after data from The FutureWorkplace platform are HTML (69%), CSS (69%), javascript (75%), jquery (63 %), while in the field of back-end PHP software development (81%) it remains among the most used programming languages.

However, the requirement for easier access to teaching resources has opened the way for the development of online learning materials such as www.kursori.org. The technique is undoubtedly wide enough that many young people interested in moving to this field find it a bit problematic, either because of the language barrier or the lack of a mentor, events that many students also talk about. who got the basics of programming from the online website “Cursor”.

In addition to online learning platforms in Kosovo, this way of studying is being practiced more and more worldwide every year, one of the largest international ICT platforms “Coding Dojo” is one of the best examples of communication, study and realizing projects in groups, gathering students from different countries, which affects the growth of teamwork and efficiency. Many of the UP students have managed to be part of this international platform. And here’s why young people are turning to ICT as the FutureWorkplace platform shows over the past 5 years!

This article was published as part of “The Future Workplace” Project.

The Future Workplace is part of the Dig Data Challenge powered by Millennium Foundation Kosovo (MFK) and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) as part of the The Dig Data Challenge on Labour Force Data. This project is implemented by Open Data Kosovo and The Kosovo Chamber of Commerce.