A few days ago, on July 29, this year’s second legislative elections were held in the Republic of Moldova, after the massive fraud of last April. I will not go into further details concerning Moldovan politics because, as I often said, legitimately it is not my place to do so, but this does not prevent me from having a philosophical point of view… like everyone else… and an investment in this country.
I am going to write 3 or 4 posts about the situation in Moldova, I would like to return to what hurts me personally, as a businessman, but more importantly on what has destroyed the dreams of my friends who feel obliged to leave the country, and to immigrate, in the case of engineers, mostly to Canada. I will perhaps return to the role that this country plays, and how it surfs over the misery of the world by plundering the few elite in these developing countries.
In 2009, because of the elections, I have spent a great deal of time in this country, and will again next week spend another 4 days there. I am constantly meeting new people, opening or participating in many discussions, looking for solutions for the future of this country, my only guide being, the interest of my business and that of my friends. I would like to recall that Pentalog ranks as 2nd or 3rd enterprise in IT in this country.
I have met this year on several occasions the Ambassador of France, but also those of Italy and Germany. I talked very rapidly, with one of the candidates running in the Moldovan Presidential election, concerning the issues in our industry. I even had the opportunity to exchange a few words with President Sarkozy on the situation in this country. But above all, I have met my fellow competitors but nevertheless colleagues, looking for protective synergies, national IT strategies or to define common business ethics for all the major players, to improve the balance of health and social institutions of this country.
A few months ago, I wrote a series of papers on the theme of competition. These papers were about the rules of competition in the market for human resources and I must admit I didn’t keep my gloves on. I’ll be more careful this time, but there will still be a little blood shed!
Following this election, I do not know exactly where it is going to take us, but it does renew hope, and therefore I want to return to the title of my paper: the requirement of democracy.
The fundamental deficit felt by the young people who have completed a part of their studies in the European Union, and who are talking on the Internet with friends around the world, is a lot more fundamental than imagines the Moldova Communist Party. This deficit is also the cause of all other problems that I will detail in my forthcoming paper, whether it’s the abysmal lack of social protection, or the difficulty of maintaining the level of education. All these evils are caused by the lack of democracy and are subsequently the reason for the increasing number of candidates looking at emigrating.
As I mentioned the other day to Mr. Lupu (one of the largest opposition candidates, running in the presidential election), during a telephone conversation, what I felt was the greatest threat to the IT sector, is not the current level (which can be improved) of the infrastructure, but the continuing loss of skilled, educated young people. Moldova in this decennia of 2000 is chasing away her children! This goes well beyond the ethnic divide that everyone imagines. I told Marian Lupu, the level of current wages, between Romania provinces and Chisinau is almost the same in IT. However, the technological levels of Romanian provincial towns are rising, while the Moldovan capital is dropping. And do you understand what is happening? Because Romanians who left Sibiu, Bacau, Iasi… to go to Bucharest, but also Frankfurt, Rome, London, Montreal or Toronto… are coming home! But on the other side of the border, the exodus continues, and it is massive and it is now affecting all age groups, except the oldest!
There is no reason why the future continues to shrink in Moldova while it improves in Romania. Seen from today, and after the elections, quite the opposite. A new wind is blowing. I understand you, my Moldovan brothers, but I want you to lift high the flag of courage and ambition. I urge you not to abdicate now that there is hope.
Those who have left Romania for the West did not have a rosier future than those who remained. More, those who have chosen to remain now benefit from many opportunities afforded to a country under reconstruction. Moldovan friends, it’s up to you to confirm that today is the first day of your national reconstruction.
Posted on Tue., 4 Aug. 2009 11:25 by Frédéric LASNIER (1018 day(s) old)
Categories: Romania and Moldova
Comments [6] Trackbacks [0] Permalink
Categories: Romania and Moldova
Comments [6] Trackbacks [0] Permalink
Comments :
In this article you try to analyze current processes in IT recruitment in Moldova. You have focused on political issues, but IMHO you have omitted some important things as education, maturity of internal IT market and young’s people ideology.
Let’s discus every of these issues.
Education. Moldova has migrated to bologna system, we reduced number of lections, number of seminars but we didn’t educate our students to think and to study independently. The main objective of bologna university is to teach a student to think like a professional. The main objective of former system was to give knowledge base for a certain specialist. But today we a trying to give knowledge of 5 year course in 2.5 years.
Recent years Moldova restricted number of students in universities, what doesn’t lead to better education.
If you need a good professional after such education you will search for very independent and self motivated persons. As you understand such persons in IT are very rear phenomenon.
Maturity of IT market. Moldova has no internal standards or legislation in IT. Every company develops it’s own standards ant IT approach on base of semi mythical international IT standards.
Production of Moldavian IT is orientated for export. There are very much small companies who work as offshore teams for European and American IT companies and in such companies final career level is immigration to the country of mother-company.
The other side of immaturity of market is that there are very few companies in Moldova who have something more than “obligatory accounting solution”. That means that if I as an IT professional want some career growth, I should search or very big company with non-Moldavian technologies or I should begin thinking about immigration.
The result of it will be that you can be a good home-self-made specialist, but if you want to be something more you should search for immigration possibilities.
Young’s people ideology. In Moldova an IT-guy is politics, economic and social indifferent creature. The major part of IT professionals does not associate themselves with Moldova citizenship: the read book in English, work for abroad companies, communicate on Russian forums. In the end for them immigration is just a change of living place.
You speak as an investor who loses quality of his possible employees, but you must understand that there are more processes that lead to the worsening of quality, than just a political instability. And if you really can speak with authorities you can attract their attention to these problems.
Sincerely, I didn’t understood why Chisinau’s wages are compared to Romania’s province… please think as well about comparing wages, paid in Vienna to wages in Berlin (small-large countries, same language).
Well. Please have a relocation proposal targeting Bucharest for an IT junior, who “developing some complex security chips for the England banks” in Brasov or Iasi branches. Look at emotions. Please ask him why Bucharest is better. And just think why comparing Chisinau to Romania’s province is the worst thing you can do for your Moldova’s branch.
Now the latest. Please consider there a lot of people in Romania province, who are paid very well. Usually they are senior developers. Did you compared seniors from Chisinau and seniors from Cluj-Napoca or Timisoara?
Your staff should be paid just according to net income they bring to your bussines plus expenses to replace him. Axioma.
Disclaimer. I’m on your side. One and half year ago, when leaving the biggest IT company in Moldova, I’ve instantly received a proposal from Iasi, Romania’s province. It included 1700EUR/month salary. But I’ve choosen another company in Chisinau.
Now I’m paid at the same level and we’re opening the 1st branch in Bucharest. While thinking our level is like another country province, we’ll sitting back here and do nothing but agriculture. No chips for UK, no embedded software for France. Nothing unusual. Just sleeping and dreaming.
As Fred ever told you, you underline too much the question of the comparison between Ro province and Md capital.
We just have realized that only two years ago, salaries in Md were really lower which is actually not the case now.
The large company you talk about did something capital as Pentalog did it a bit later: revealing to the word Md IT’s existence. What you say about your personal experience is interesting but let me tell you that you’re not the only one to get such a salary in Md. There are lots of people getting much more than that in the companies you enjoy denigrating.
Probably you’re a “high pot” and unfortunately we missed you. But don’t forget that our local director is a Moldavian of 26, in Chisinau, getting something which is not comparable with the amount you mentioned. Think that we have in Chisinau high tech large projects getting the full time involvement of 10 to 40 developers. Our largest IT project is in the hands of a MD PM (back from the US). Do you know that with have Business analysts, consultants for ww companies, in Chisinau? Do you think that those people are paid with peanuts? Now, guess how many we have like that and cumulate them with their homologues by your former employer and tell me who does his best for Md HR?
Please try to answer the following question?
- Md IT is 10 years old, Ro IT is 15 years old, India is 30, French, German, US are 50… do you think MD comes to market with same legitimacy?
- Do you think the local business annalists can compete with the one the old countries – how many in Md? Some poor 20-50, due to emigration process and lack of capitalization
- How many project managers capable to handle projects with dozens of developers and million $ on the table game?
- Do you know that we need in Md approximately 2-3 years to get the efficiency of a western junior?
- Do you know we spend 4000-5000 € to get an acceptable level for every internship (100 000€/year in Chisinau)?
- Do you know that those 2 companies pay the social taxes on their employees which is not the case of every company in the country… which leads to the disaster you know in hospitals, and all public sectors?
Pentalog and the company you worked for did that in less than a decade. That’s why we need people like you, “high pots”, remaining in the country and helping us leveraging a corporate national IT brand. Business analysis and PM capabilities come with experience! Developers need good consultants and PM to deliver their best.
Personally as the COO of Pentalog (I’m Romanian and not french), I cannot ensure to everybody in Md the position and salary of his dreams but at the same time this is capital to make people understand that the industry we built together has to be strengthen precisely to propose better legitimacy, better efficiency to ww clients… and getting paid for that in return.
I saw one comment on http://www.privesc.eu that amazed me… it was about the possibility to grow-up in the company if you are “not French”…
the chart of the company, only one French guy is leading one of the Pentalog office on the 7 non-French offices of Pentalog.
For sure ! If I know well
If I remember well, we have in Chisinau high level Moldavian Project Managers on some very interesting projects… please follow their profile on the web site
However, how to become a manager… in fact, it is a lot of work and travel.
Let say that each head of offices travelled in the company more than one year in order to learn all the specificities of the company and our customers. These travels were directly at customers for some months.
Most of Project Managers or some Team Leaders lasted some months at the customers offices.
Also, every year, our worldwide offices host internships from others countries.
That means, in order to ” not be politically correct”, it exists a normal professional “emigration” inside the company in order to grow up skills (from internship to high manager) without any segregation of nationality ! It creates the professional maturity of the team.
For sure, one company does not do all the IT market in Moldova. I know another one which does it
However, Moldavian IT people who are abroad can attract foreign investors in Moldova or can come to us with a project… (how do we establish our subsidiary in Moldova, Serghei ?)
If we speak about educational system, that is right, it does not exist sufficient professional feedback in the University.
This feedback is not only on the basic technology (Java, .Net, …) but also on :
- management of project : different methods exist in the world,
- functional analysis : how from a user problems, do we define a functional solution and develop a technical tool ?
- quality level by definition of business cases for testing tools.
For this, it needs time for maturity and work for a better implication of the companies / employees / students to define with Universities the curricula of different specialities.
For sure, it remains social problems in Moldova but I think it is economic growth and respect of market rules that permits to solve these issues.
There are more things involved then the ones mentioned above.
First of all is the sense of security. I was a high payed IT professional in MD some years back. I was in constant fear that some racketeer type felon will find out how much I make. This was THE reason I left. It’s very hard to be the honest rich guy when the rest of the rich are foreign or felons.
So, you bring the big bucks home. Wait, you don’t have a home. You gotta buy one, that probably means you need a mortgage. Wait a second, banks will give you a credit only at around 20%. Are you kidding?
So what that you make a lot of money in MD. First you don’t have the peace of day, constantly fear for your safety and well being. And second, what are you going to spend the money on? A car so it will get busted on the roads or jacked when you are not looking? You can’t buy a house, you ain’t got enough dough yet (unless you organize a credit union with your colleagues). You can’t win. There is no safety net. If something happens and you can’t work – that’s it – the end of the road. You’ll be in the elderly-disabled pool of ppl left in the country.
Sorry, I bought my moving ticket.
I got other commentaries through e-mails giving me the same explanation about banking and buying your house. I will courageously transmiss this opinion to the bank CEOs I meet at sometimes.
About violence you’re the only one to bring this argument.