Not so long ago, most parents in our country sent their children to study as economists and lawyers and dreamed of their successful career in state corporations, preferably in the oil and gas sector. Today the situation has changed. According to a survey conducted by the University 2035, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development and Skysmart, seven out of ten Russians expect their children to connect their lives with IT.
The study involved parents of students in grades 7-11. It turned out that almost 70% of parents of Russian schoolchildren would like their children to develop in IT. In second place in popularity is the field of technology and industry, in the third – professions in the field of media and communications, in the fourth and fifth places – education and art.
Without a doubt, this is an important trend and an important shift in the public understanding of what professions will be in demand in the near future and which area is highly likely to provide financial stability and well-being. According to various expert estimates, the number of unfilled vacancies in IT annually reaches a million. Employers at various levels, from large state-owned companies and federal departments to start-ups and small businesses, speak about the lack of IT specialists.
In addition, the results of the survey show that the majority of parents would like their children to get deeper knowledge of computer science. Almost 80% of parents consider the number of school and independent studies to be insufficient for passing the exam in this subject. More than half hire a tutor or send their child to courses. Informatics lessons appear at school only in the 7th grade, and before the division of classes into profiles in high school, lessons are held once a week. It is unlikely that in one lesson a week you can get interested in such a complex discipline as IT, and even more so teach several programming languages. In addition, more than half of parents are dissatisfied with outdated textbooks and programs. At the same time, 92% of respondents are satisfied with their child’s informatics teacher.
The field of information technology is one of the most actively developing sectors of the economy, and the task is to train qualified personnel for it, Dmitry Chernyshenko, the relevant Deputy Prime Minister, who is responsible for digital transformation in the government, has repeatedly emphasized. In 2021, the Ministry of Digital Development, together with University 2035, launched a pilot project in 10 regions to teach modern programming languages to schoolchildren for free. According to Chernyshenko, at the moment these courses are attended by 10,000 students. The pilot regions included Belgorod, Novgorod, Kaluga, Tula, Orenburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza regions, the Republic of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan and Sakha (Yakutia).
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, starting this year, within the framework of the new federal project “Development of the Human Resources of the IT Industry”, which is part of the “Digital Economy” national project, the project is being scaled up throughout the country. 100,000 students in grades 8-11 will be able to enroll in free courses. According to the survey, 82% of parents are ready to send their children to them. Programming languages studied include Python, C#, Java, PHP, C++, and JavaScript. Parents consider the programming languages Python, JavaScript and C ++ to be relevant for learning.
At the same time, there is an active discussion in the expert community about what awaits programmers in the future. Some point out that programmers are the new proletariat. Others express fear that they will suffer the fate of the notorious economists and lawyers. Everyone remembers how an overabundance of such specialists formed in the labor market, and often not of the highest qualification.
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It is widely believed that programming languages will gradually take the same place as foreign languages. About 10 years ago, knowledge of English was an additional advantage, but now it is an urgent need for those who want to develop in the profession. With programming, it will be the same: “Knowledge of programming languages will become natural for the population.
Parents of schoolchildren believe that whatever profession their child chooses, he will need digital skills either at an advanced level (45% of respondents) or at an intermediate level (43%). Only 12% of respondents say that it will be enough for their children to master digital skills at a basic level.
In addition to school education, the IT direction is also being strengthened in universities, and it is also becoming easier to get an IT specialty through additional education programs. Such opportunities are provided within the framework of the national project “Digital Economy”. Thus, in the universities participating in the Priority 2030 program, “digital departments” are already being created: this year more than 80,000 students will be enrolled in them, who will receive additional qualifications in the IT profile. The number of state-funded places for IT specialties in universities is increasing annually, and in 2024 the number of applicants who can enroll for free will reach 120,000 people, which is twice as many as in 2020. The Digital Professions program offers Russians an additional IT education with a 50% discount: in 2021, more than 25,000 people enrolled in the program.
The situation with the development of IT, the popularization of programming among schoolchildren and the training of digital personnel is encouraging. Both the state, and parents, and business, it seems, have finally found working mechanisms, when mass free programming training can be carried out without interfering with the school curriculum, and the training of IT specialists in universities and improving IT competencies can be put on stream.