Looking for a job in Croatia? One industry sector has plenty of openings.
The Association of Croatian Exporters of Software has a problem which is quite unusual for Croatia. It cannot find enought new employees. For example, the employment in software industry has increased by two thousand jobs last year, but Croatian universities have passed out just about a thousand computer scientists, of which an estimated one-fifth went to work to other countries, mainly to Germany and Ireland, reports Vecernji List on August 11, 2015.
President of the association Tomislav Pokrajčić explains that growth of employment in the software industry last year was 16.5 percent, and that the similar rate of growth is expected this year, with a creation of at least 2,000 new jobs. However, companies can count on only 1,000 university graduates who study computer sciences programs at Croatian universities.
“In addition to the problem of the number of potential employees in the market, companies are struggling with keeping their best enployees. High taxes on wages for domestic companies reduce their competitiveness, so they are usually not able to provide benefits that software experts have abroad. Taking into account the openness of borders for labor migration and the fact that at the EU level there is an estimated deficit of about 800,000 IT professionals, local companies will have increasing difficulties in acquireing and retaining competence and competitiveness”, said Pokrajčić. That’s why he hopes that the government will undertake necessary measures, particularly since the software industry is recognized in the industrial strategy of Croatia as one of the drivers of the economic growth.
Hrvoje Džapo, head of the career center at the Faculty of Computer Sciences, said that there is space for an increase of entry quotas at that faculty, provided the necessary conditions are met, including hiring more assistant and associate professors. According to estimates, about 20-30 percent of computer sciences students decide to go abroad because of better financial conditions, more interesting and challenging work environment, opportunities for further career development, and the possibility to work in the most prestigious high-tech companies in the world.
Ivo Lukač from Netgen believes that the best solution to reduce the outflow of computer experts would be the growth of domestic companies operating in the global market. As far as the education system is oncerned, he believes that the quality has dropped a bit due to poorly executed Bologna Reforms.
“Schools and colleges have not adapted to the current situation, do not offer more open positions and have not updated their curricula fast enough. There is also the problem that in some colleges additional professors cannot be employed, so we should ask ourselves whether is it even possible to increase the capacity of these institutions”, said Lukač. That is why, for example, the Infinum company has established its own academy where it educates students in order to find new employees.
