According to data provided to Radio Sarandí by the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (CUTI), in a software company, a "junior" developer earns an average nominal salary (for 40 hours of work) of US$1,440, a "semi-senior" developer earns US$2,161 and a "senior" developer US$3,106.
In addition to income, there are a number of non-monetary benefits that companies offer their employees. For example, in terms of labor flexibility, remote work, working holidays off, and December 24 and 31 off are mentioned.
In terms of food, the vast majority of companies provide their employees with breakfast, lunch, fruit and drinks, and offer benefits such as gym, massages and club, as well as aspects related to employee health such as personal life insurance and medical insurance for the whole family.
But the new trend in the IT industry in Uruguay is that young developers, rather than being employees, are looking to embark on an independent path.
Working hours without hours, remote offices and business without borders are three of the flags that drive this industry.
Seven young entrepreneurs talked to Sarandí about their vision of the industry, Uruguay's position worldwide and what the country lacks to make a quantitative leap to conquer the market.
The word of the protagonists
Name: Juan Esteban Suárez
Age: 39
Company: Arkano
Industry: IT Services
Role: Director
How would you define the IT industry in Uruguay?
Vigorous, collaborative, enterprising, responsible, transparent, a benchmark abroad as a source of quality solutions and specialized talent.
How important is education in technological development?
Very high. The raw material of the industry is the ability of people to solve problems in an innovative and efficient way so that their customers get value. In that sense, training in hard sciences is no longer enough to compete and solve increasingly complex problems. Increasingly, we are sharing teams to create technology-based solutions with philosophers, sociologists, lawyers, communicators and other professionals with "soft" backgrounds.
Empathy, understanding "what" and "what for" is being solved. Creativity, communication and connection between people and nurturing the technological offer with specific knowledge of industries becomes decisive. The preparation of professionals and technicians of any discipline should have a strong technological component, as well as the opening of professionals trained in technology to include in the offer the contribution of any other discipline.
What does Uruguay need to do to catch up with the new work trends?
As an IT industry, that more technology-based ventures emerge, led by professionals from other areas, "canning" their knowledge.
As for work trends in general in all industries, fostering trust between the different actors of the organizations with transparency, respect, empathy, diversity, conquering little by little our fears.
More specifically, include more technology in support processes such as HR, sales, marketing, communication and break down some barriers to be able to connect with people no matter where they are.
What should the government do to government should do to boost the industry?
Democratize technological knowledge, not necessarily programming, but showing that technology is not a "boogeyman" and that creativity should be used to add value to any business, more and more technology itself is not the problem, the problem is "what" and "for what" to solve this or that situation. Plan Ceibal, Ibirapitá and other initiatives go in that direction.
Where do you imagine yourself in 5 years?
Somewhere that values the contribution of creating work spaces that inspire individual and collective growth with integrity, passion, resilience, transparency, connecting people's interests, discovering, learning and above all, enjoying and surprising myself.
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Name: Diego Cibils
Position: Co-Founder and CEO
Age: 37
Company: KONA
Industry: Development of technological solutions with Artificial Intelligence
How would you define the IT industry in Uruguay?
Uruguayan industry is vibrant, competitive and with the best resources in the region. We are at an international level and we compete globally.
How important is education in technological development?
It is vital. You have to study computing from an early age, it is the basis for the future of all industries. I think the initiatives at the educational level, for example with the Ceibal Plan, are very successful. Today a person can learn to program and any technology with a laptop at home and is ready to work in a market where there is more demand than supply.
What does Uruguay need to do to catch up with the new work trends?
I think it's a profound discussion of the new way of working globally. People are looking for challenges and a reason to belong to a company, and many times they do it from remote locations. The 8 hours doesn't work anymore. Now hours are no longer something you control, but work on results and projects. In the IT industry we have been doing it that way for a long time and we have already understood and adopted it.
What should the government do to boost the industry?
Things are being done in the sector to promote it, from the tax benefits to export software, as well as accompanying official missions with the CUTI where we can contact world-class companies. Generating innovation poles in disruptive technologies by promoting research is something that would help a lot.
Where do you imagine yourself in 5 years?
In 5 years with KONA I want to be with operations in Central and North America. It is on our roadmap to aggressively expand operations to these continents, with specific solutions for the industries we are focused on today with artificial intelligence, such as the financial sector, among others.
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Name: Fabián Fernández
Age: 29
Company: Kaizen Softworks
Position: CEO and Co-Founder
Industry: Software Development
How would you define the IT industry in Uruguay?
As an ecosystem of companies eager to do many things, where collaboration is common currency and thinking only about the local market is not an option.
How important is education in technological development?
It is key. The industry needs qualified people, which we currently have, but we still need much more. Fortunately we have multiple institutions making efforts together, including CUTI. Actions as important as the Ceibal Plan mark the pace at which Uruguay is incorporating technology into its culture and developing awareness of understanding that technology is a necessity for the jobs of today and the future.
What does Uruguay need to do to catch up with the new work trends?
I think it lacks nothing. I say this because there are examples of educational institutions with remote options such as UTEC that promotes the decentralization of education in technological careers. In addition, companies have been clear for a long time that remote work is no longer a "benefit" and has become a necessity. On the other hand, projects such as Jacarandá of the Ministry of Industry and CUTI are appearing that aim to help these companies with remote employees to facilitate the convenience of working from different parts of Uruguay with access to conference rooms with all the necessary equipment.
What should the government do to boost the industry?
That industry is among the highest priorities and it seems to me that we are on the right track. Technology is key to the development of a country, it is an industry that enables the development of all others. It would be excellent to see from more venture capital to generate more jobs to continue generating opportunities for public-private collaboration as is being done with Jacarandá. The fact that Minister Carolina Cosse has led the IT industry mission to the United States seems to me to be of great importance and a clear indication of her priorities. We must not forget that this country is our largest export market, with 60% of the more than 600 million dollars we exported worldwide in 2017.
Where do you imagine yourself in 5 years?
I imagine myself continuing to work as one more piece of the puzzle that helps this industry to continue to develop and exploit its great potential in the best possible way.
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Name: Pablo Giampedraglia
Age: 36
Company: Asap developers
Industry: Software Development
How would you define the IT industry in Uruguay?
A dynamic, open to the world and growing industry
How important is education in technological development?
It is fundamental. Knowledge is our main asset. To grow we have to educate and train more people. The growth of the sector will be limited by the number of well-educated people.
What does Uruguay need to do to catch up with the new work trends?
Work flexibility. More applied research.
What should the government do to boost the industry?
Invest in education. In public and private institutions.
Where do you imagine yourself in 5 years?
Exporting more and exporting more value-added services, with greater specialization.
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Name: Juan Martín Gallo
Age: 25
Company: Effectus Software
Role: co-founder
Industry: Software development
How would you define the IT industry in Uruguay?
I believe that the IT industry is growing, it has not yet reached the potential it has. However, it is mature enough to be able to export services.
How important is education in technological development?
Education is important at all levels and for technological development is no exception.
What does Uruguay need to do to catch up with the new work trends?
I think the Uruguayan industry is doing a good job in that aspect. There are things that are more difficult to get than the markets that have more demand for a market size issue.
What should the government do to boost the industry?
I think something that could be improved at the industry level is to have a local presence in the larger markets, so that they can support us on different issues and have knowledge of the local market.
Where do you imagine yourself in 5 years?
I imagine myself in Uruguay working to ensure that the industry continues to grow. I imagine myself working with top companies in the northern hemisphere and Uruguay consolidated as a technological pole in South America.
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Name: Eduardo Vargas
Age: 29
Company: Loop Studio
Industry: Custom Application Development
How would you define the IT industry in Uruguay?
The IT industry in Uruguay is recognized worldwide, but we need to work hard, we have very good professionals who every day are dedicated to improving the industry. A very important point and I think we are missing, for fear, is to know how to work together, collaborate among all companies. Working as a big company, we are all going to sell more.
How important is education in technological development?
It is one of the most important pillars, we need more skilled people to solve bigger problems.
What does Uruguay need to do to catch up with the new work trends?
We update ourselves much faster than one imagines, currently most companies know how to solve and provide solutions on par with any company in the United States or Europe. It would be very important that education knows how to adapt to the needs as fast as the demand, technologies today change very fast and you have to be updated to be able to compete.
What should the government do to boost the industry?
The government currently helps us a lot, having trade missions with the presence of the Minister of Industry is a huge support, they open more doors for us in different institutions.
Where do you imagine yourself in 5 years?
It is difficult to answer where I imagine myself in 5 years, currently we have many short and medium term plans with Loop Studio. The most important thing for us is to continue with the relationships we have and generate new links maintaining the values and promoting the industry.
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Name: Marcel Fernández
Age: 42
Company: Panopticonn
Industry: Information Technology
How would you define the IT industry in Uruguay?
It is the cleanest industry from the environmental point of view, in constant growth and the one that has more future projection in the country.
It has the capacity for integration and social and gender inclusion. It gives the possibility of remote work, which helps to lower fixed costs and provides labor flexibility. It lacks the necessary support from private investment, collaborative work and qualified people, especially short focused careers, and there is a lack of women.
How important is education in technological development?
It is the basis. I would like it to be more from an approach of doing, of co-creating and not so much from the theoretical framework.
What does Uruguay need to do to catch up with the new work trends?
Many companies installed in Uruguay work as the vanguard. The State is the one that is more behind in this aspect. It must change the focus of the old industry and start working by objectives.
What should the government do to boost the industry?
More real investment. Conceive an IT research centre. Try to imitate successful and well-known models of collaboration and support.
Where do you imagine yourself in 5 years?
I imagine myself promoting startups from different countries in Latin America. Achieving international business so that these companies can provide solutions to the world's problems.
Source: Radio Sarandí 690
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