IT Professionalism Conference 2021

• May 4, 2021
• admin

The eSkills Malta Foundation, in collaboration and partnership with IT Professionalism Europe, who work closely with key public actors, from the European Commission, the European Parliament held a “IT Professionalism online conference” webinar spanning from 20th to 22nd April 2021.

One of the EU targets is to have 20 million IT professionals working by 2030, which revitalises the current initiatives for professionalising the European IT workforce and calls on all stakeholders to increase their efforts and cooperation. To address current and new challenges, IT Professionalism Europe, eSkills Malta Foundation and the Irish Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition held the ‘IT Professionalism Conference 2021’, taking place during three half-day online sessions on 20-22 April.

We gathered perspectives from Europe, as well as those from other continents, to identify the necessary steps that will help meet the new EU target goals, covering political initiatives, developing technologies and the outlook for young IT professionals.

The days of the conference were separated by the following themes:

The first day discussed “The Challenge of Professionalism in Europe and Beyond”. The panel discussion featured speakers from different parts of the world who shared their experience on the topic.

“IT Professionalism in Practice” was the topic debated on the second day and focused on tackling skills gaps in the sectors of software and blockchain.

The third and final day dealt with “Becoming an IT Professional”. During the panel discussion, experiences and skills needed to start a career in IT will be discussed. We will also hold a ‘CV clinic’, exploring how to improve your application to get hired. Send us your CV and motivation letter and get live feedback during the event.

Austeja Trinkunaite, the Secretary General at ITPE, introduced this series of webinars and thanked in advance the work being carried out by the eSkills Malta Foundation along with the Irish Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition.

André Richier, the Principal Administrator at the European Commission, gave an overview of The European Skills Agenda and the Pact for Skills and the EU’s target of 20 million new IT professionals working by 2030.

Anusca Ferrari, from the European Commission, discussed the importance of Digital Education to reach such exciting targets.

Mary Cleary, Secretary-General of the Irish Computer Society/ICS Foundation and Chair of the CEN TC 428, Digital Competences and IT Professionalism, emphasised that education and professionalism are advanced by having practical standards in place.

Carm Cachia, eSkills Malta Foundation and Maltese Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, discussed a project currently being undertaken by the Foundation which is the eSkills ICT Skills Monitor. The preliminary findings of the study already show the Maltese IT Professionals willingness upskills and remain relevant but is constrained by time. This leads to a skills gaps in Malta.

Balazs Zorenyi, European Commission, confirmed this when discussing the new I-DESI report which tackled the IT Professionals Supply and Demand and where Europe stood globally.

Pierre Marro from the European Commission, Parisa Ghodous, Project Leader, University of Lyon I, Helena Lovegrove, Project Leader, Digital Europe and Joshua Ellul, Chairman of Malta Digital Innovation Authority and Director of Centre for DLTs, University of Malta discussed Blockchain, standards and maintaining professionalism and their relevance in Europe.

The conference proceeded with a panel discussion about what young IT professionals should expect in the future in the IT sector, why one should join an IT professional body and what this brings to the member and their career. This interesting discussion raised a lot of salient points. The varied panel was made up of, Conrad Attard, Lecturer at the University of Malta IEEE , John Higgins, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT (UK), Mike Hinchey, International Federation for Information Processing, IFIP, Terry Coatta, ACM (US), Yaoko Nakagawa, IPSJ (Japan) came from different parts of the world and were able to offer their unique experiences and solutions.

A very interesting topic was discussed by Katarina Pazur Anicic, University of Zagreb about how to improve one’s CV based on the e-Competence Framework.

Austeja Trinkunaite concluded this informative and applicable series of webinars by thanking all the speakers, attendees and the persons who made this webinar possible.

The eSkills Malta Foundations deems this webinar another great success primarily due to the valid speakers debating various ideas such as ethics, AI and IT licenses for today’s IT Professionals and current students. The audience was also very active with their participation and questioning.

Programme
20 April: The Challenge of Professionalism in Europe and Beyond

Introduction​
14:20-14:30
​Austeja Trinkunaite, IT Professionalism Europe​ VIEW​
​ ​The European Skills Agenda and the Pact for Skills

​14:30-14:40​ ​André Richier, European Commission, DG GROW.D1 (Skills, Services and Professions) – see slides​ VIEW
​ ​The Digital Education Action Plan

​14:40-14:50​ ​Anusca Ferrari, European Commission, DG EAC.C4 (Digital Education) VIEW​
​ ​CEN – IT Professionalism: European standards

14:50-15:10​ ​Mary Cleary, CEN/TC428, Irish Computer Society and Irish Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition – see slides VIEW​
​ ​IT Professionalism Europe Activities and Progress

15:10-15:25​ ​Austeja Trinkunaite, IT Professionalism Europe – see slides VIEW​
​ ​Findings of the study on IT Professionals skills gaps in Malta

​15:25-15:40​ ​Carm Cachia, eSkills Malta Foundation and Maltese Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition – see slides​ VIEW

Break 15:40-15:50 ​​

New I-DESI report: IT Professionals Supply and Demand (where Europe stands globally?)​

15:50-16:05​ ​Balazs Zorenyi, European Commission, DG CNECT.F4 (Digital Economy and Skills) – see slides VIEW ​
​ ​Panel discussion. What is done in other countries on IT professionalism?

16:05-17:05​
Conrad Attard, IEEE
John Higgins, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT (UK)
Mike Hinchey, International Federation for Information Processing, IFIP
Terry Coatta, ACM (US)
Yaoko Nakagawa, IPSJ (Japan)
Moderator: Mary Cleary, Irish National Coalition​ VIEW

Closing remarks ​17:05 – 17:15
​ ​Mary Cleary, CEN/TC428, Irish Computer Society and Irish Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition​
​ ​

21 April: IT Professionalism in Practice: Software and Blockchain

Introduction 09:50-10:00​
Austeja Trinkunaite, IT Professionalism Europe​ VIEW​​
​ ​Blockchain and its relevance in Europe

10:00-10:15 ​Pierre Marro, European Commission, DG CNECT.F3 (Digital Innovation and Blockchain) – see slides​ VIEW
​ ​Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills – Blockchain

10:15-10:30 ​Parisa Ghodous, Project Leader, University of Lyon I VIEW
​ ​Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills – Software

10:30-10:45 ​Helena Lovegrove, Project Leader, Digital Europe VIEW​
​ ​Regulating Blockchain and AI at the national level – A Maltese Perspective

​​10:45-11:00 ​Joshua Ellul, Chairman of Malta Digital Innovation Authority and Director of Centre for DLTs, University of Malta – see slides VIEW​​
​Break ​11:00-11:15
​ ​Panel discussion. Increasing European technological sovereignty and business competitiveness

​11:15-12:15 ​Helena Lovegrove, Digital Europe
Joshua Ellul, Chairman of Malta Digital Innovation Authority and Director of Centre for DLTs, University of Malta
Justina Bieliauskaite, European DIGITAL SME Alliance
Jutta Breyer, Independent Consultant in ICT Professionalism for Europe
Parisa Ghodous, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
Moderator: Carm Cachia, eSkills Malta Foundation and Maltese Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition VIEW

​Closing remarks 12:15-12:30​
​Carm Cachia, eSkills Malta Foundation and Maltese Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition

22 April: Becoming an IT Professional: Session for young people

Introduction 14:20-14:30​
​Austeja Trinkunaite, IT Professionalism Europe VIEW
​​ Panel: Young IT professionals – what to expect?​

14:30-15:30 ​Anna Stépanoff, Wild Code School
Carmel Somers, Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet
Charlotte Mummery, Ascent Software
Jakub Minarik, Deutsche Telekom Pan-Net
Olivier Cail, Maïsadour
Moderator: Austeja Trinkunaite, IT Professionalism Europe VIEW

Break 15:30-15:45 ​Why should you join an IT professional body and what does it bring to you and your career?

​15:45-16:10​ ​Daniel Krupka, German Informatics Society – see slides
Mary Cleary, Irish Computer Society – see slides VIEW

CV Clinic: Improve your CV based on the e-Competence Framework
​16:10-17:10​ ​Katarina Pazur Anicic, University of Zagreb – see slides​ VIEW
​Closing remarks 17:10-17:20 ​Austeja Trinkunaite, IT Professionalism Europe – ITPE VIEW​