Finland needs more IT experts – Enfo participates in the joint effort .

Within the next five years, Finland needs 100,000 new technology experts to maintain its position at the forefront of the IT industry. Microsoft sponsors a project called “Skills for jobs” aiming to get these experts into Finnish working life. Enfo takes part in the project in the role of corporate sponsor, bringing the needs and opportunities of working life to students.

Finland is one of the world's leading countries in data economy, cyber security and sustainable IT. To maintain this position, we need more IT experts. For example, approximately 20,000 jobs for cloud or information security experts open up each year in Microsoft's partner and customer companies.

Nobody can solve this situation alone, but together we can do it. The project brings Finnish universities and colleges, Microsoft's partners and customers, and public sector together to solve this shortage. Enfo is also very much involved.

Competence for the needs of working life

The Skills for jobs project links the development of competence to working life. This is an advantage for both the companies and the participants: the project brings right kind of expertise to the labor market, and opens up interesting career paths for the participants.

The education package includes four different study paths, coordinated by the Kajaani University of Applied Sciences, which also offers the study portal where the courses are conducted. Other Finnish educational institutions are also involved. Participants get credit for the courses, and they can also attend from abroad.

One of the study paths is the cyber expert micro-degree, which trains the student to become an expert in Azure cloud services and information security services. Microsoft builds the content together with Enfo and other corporate sponsors. Enfo produces content especially for the Azure Administrator course. This is an excellent opportunity for us to get to build students' skills in matters that we think are relevant. This way, we help the needs of working life and education meet, and create important networks.

Certification training along with work

Skills for jobs is one example of Enfo's investment in the training and development of experts. We also promote training in other ways. For example, we hire young experts for our Cloud Operations team, and offer them the opportunity for certification training.

Employees commit to study alongside work for a year, and part of their working time is reserved for this. In a year, a person typically achieves 3-4 certifications. Everyone benefits: Enfo gets new cloud and information security experts, the experts develop their skills, and our customers get access to fresh and verified expertise.

Long-term development alongside the customer

Enfo is a growing, medium-sized and modern IT service company. We have a unique opportunity to do long-term work on the development of our customers' IT services. For us, work is not just individual projects, but a joint journey with our customers.

By investing in education, we support Finland's position as the number one country in IT, help our customers to use the best possible technology also in the future, and offer interesting career paths for IT experts. We believe that the best results are achieved through cooperation.

More information about Skills for jobs project and training: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/skills-for-jobs/ and https://skill.edukamu.fi

Author Juha Kukka is responsible for Enfo’s solution sales in Finland. He has a long experience in service development and solution planning, as well as a strong view of the training and development needs of the IT industry.