In its first edition, the proposal included 1,000 young people with basic education in 11 departments. The results were encouraging: 700 of them completed the first module. During this year, this generation of students will be trained in the skills needed to enter and remain active in the job market. "Two of the objectives of this program are job placement and the reintegration of young people into the formal education system," said engineer Carinna Bálsamo, director of this program, who announced that registration is now open for the 2018 generation.
Carinna Bálsamo, director of Jóvenes a Programar, Plan Ceibal
"Jóvenes a Programar is an example of the good things the country can do. It is a very important achievement, because of the way in which the public and private sectors can work, and it positions Uruguay as an innovative and advanced country. It is an example of what can be done in many sectors. You need the will and the desire to work in multidisciplinary teams, in diversity, in adapting to work together". "Young people generally think that you have to be an engineer or an analyst to program, and this is not so, as we intend to demonstrate with this project. It is enough to have some general knowledge to program in a basic way. We try to tell them that programming is accessible and that, afterwards, it is up to the students to get to where they want to go".
When it comes to analyzing the results achieved so far, Bálsamo is "very happy, because we show that it is possible to train young people who have completed the third year of high school or UTU in programming subjects. "This is training in a trade, which is an entry into the technology sector, which opens doors for people who would not have had the chance to enter if it hadn't been for this program".
For Bálsamo, training at that level "is important, because this industry has zero unemployment. Today, companies say no to the development of other projects because they don't have enough personnel. "The technology sector, once a person arrives, invests in training," he said.
Jóvenes a Programar prioritizes training in "basic software testing" and "in transversal skills that will serve the young people throughout their lives," "such as teamwork, conflict resolution, self-knowledge, and preparing for a job interview. In addition, the boys receive basic training in English "so they can answer emails, even if they have grammatical errors.
One of the reasons behind the development of this program was to "demystify what the industry is". "Young people generally think that you have to be an engineer or an analyst to program in a basic way, and that is not the case, as we intend to show with this project. There are places for everyone," he said.
Fabiana Hernández, ejecutiva de Capital Humano de la CUTI
"We must work to get women to choose this sector, because the industry needs different perspectives to improve people's lives. Currently, 67% of the employees in the sector are men and 33% are women". "In this industry there is no logic of competition that exists in other sectors, but new companies join the ecosystem, because customers are infinite inside and outside the country. Here we don't think in tangible objects, but in services and software that change the lives of people and companies, which implies other forms of relationship between them". "There is a lot of initiative to include and expand the technological ecosystem to the interior of the country, because many entrepreneurs are from the interior and want to return to live in their native places or seek to promote development in those places. So CUTI promotes all kinds of alliances aimed at development".
When it came to passing the line, the director of Jóvenes a Programar emphasized that "this project is an example of the good things that the country can do. It is a very important achievement, because of the way in which the public and private sectors can work, and it positions Uruguay as an innovative and advanced country. It shows that things can be done. You need will and desire to work in multidisciplinary teams, in diversity, and to adapt to working together".
Source: La Diaria
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