A frank, self-critical look at Tech’s pitfalls - and a few tips to tackle some major problems: the weight of collective unconscious in Tech’s mythical story, the difficulty in developing new talent from diverse backgrounds and the near-absence of women.
MOVING BEYOND RHETORIC… TOWARD CONCRETE ACTION!
In 2023, hiring developers remains challenging. This job is booming, profiles are in high demand and the market still struggles to match supply with demand.
Moreover, the field has yet to inspire vocations among more atypical backgrounds and the female population remains underrepresented.
If we want to change this situation - which hurts businesses and society - we must move past attempts to fix the digital problem at school purely by focusing on technology: for example, just loading up middle schools and high schools with gadgets.
Let’s consider other approaches - like teaching “language skills” to code, and thereby inspiring budding developers in the process…
Questions abound: how do we teach programming? Who does the teaching? How do we spark career interest? These are far more relevant issues that we need to address now.
CHANGING OUR PERSPECTIVE… TO DISCOVER AND REVEAL NEW TALENTS
This is ultimately about humans - their biases, identification needs, individual and collective imaginations, representations, and projections…
It seems logical, then, to bring in the social sciences and humanities: history, sociology, psychology, anthropology, ethnology. The idea is to bring in more unconventional profiles, to tap different learning and life journeys and thereby grow a new generation of developers.
One example is the work of Georges Balandier, who introduced the concept of “techno-imaginary” (the importance of machines in our contemporary imagination, shaped by mythical stories), and of Pascal Plantard - a digital anthropology researcher at Rennes 2 University (and, by the way, let’s not just focus on Paris for our reflections).
Plantard reminds us that techno-imaginaries form the foundational material of representations, fueling and guiding digital practices.
Studying this could help us figure out why young women self-censor. And we can move past “geek shut-in” clichés - because IT projects are often team efforts.
Indeed, research on techno-centrism encourages us to analyze these imaginary narratives, mostly shaped by Anglo-Saxon, male-dominated references. Part of our answer may lie there…
DRAWING ON REALITY… AND GIVING WOMEN THE PLACE THEY DESERVE…
Yet France - and other countries - boast numerous historical success stories and entrepreneurial models in research and industry that could match any Anglo-Saxon achievements (or those of Asia).
Take, for instance, the French company Jeulin, which, from the mid-1980s onward, offered educational solutions featuring touchscreens and robots for teaching computer science. Pascal Plantard highlights how this is rarely remembered.
Somehow, mainstream history remembers only the “great male programmers.” But if we go all the way back to the 1800s, we find Ada Lovelace - Lord Byron’s daughter and a friend of Charles Babbage - who invented the world’s first theoretical software algorithm!
Closer to our time, at Bletchley Park during WWII, pioneering women programmers cracked German codes. Alan Turing wasn’t alone - but he is the one widely featured in a movie…
And Margaret Hamilton was a key figure in the Apollo program, heading the flight software team. The term “software engineering” is hers. We might also mention African American women mathematicians in the US space program, as well as Grace Hopper, who - holding a Ph.D. in math - helped create COBOL in 1959.
…TO REWRITE TECH’S MYTHICAL NARRATIVES!
Though these pioneers were long overshadowed, the tide is gradually turning. That momentum is rewriting the grand mythical narratives and reshaping how we view both individual imagination and collective imagery in tech.
We should keep telling these big stories, much like France did with space exploration via Thomas Pesquet (another man!) and Claudie Haigneré - the first French woman in space - so young women no longer feel excluded from the digital universe.
WORKING LONG-TERM ON THE “EDUCATION, SOCIETY, RECRUITMENT” TRIPTYCH
Along with high-level changes, we must also tackle things at the grassroots. Specifically, our recruitment processes must be as open as possible: engineering schools, universities, short-track degrees like BTS…
The same goes for programming languages and Linux-type environments. That’s how we’ll find “tinkerers,” in the anthropological sense, where innovation is a process of borrowing, modifying or newly recombining existing elements, as paleoanthropologist Pascal Picq suggests.
Finally, let’s revisit how we engage with engineering schools, where faculty often fail to consider industrial concerns.
You see, shaking up the “education-society-recruitment” trio will take a major and extended effort to spark interest in every digital job (not just whatever’s hot right now).
In the end, the best way to train - and hire - more developers and especially women in this field might just be perseverance: picking up the pilgrim’s staff to inform and persuade countless people, for many (more) years to come!
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A leading financial institution in Luxembourg, BIL turned to ACT-ON Belgium to implement the Cornerstone Recruitment and Onboarding modules within its existing Cornerstone LMS environment.
THE NEED...
- Complete existing Cornerstone Learning solution with a full talent suite approach.
- Deploy a much more integrated talent management strategy.
- Replace their former recruitment tool in order to improve operational efficiency and communication with the candidates.
- Set-up of an onboarding tool to fetch documents from new hires.
- Set-up of a solution to support the performance and career management processes.
OUR RESPONSE...
- Implement Cornerstone recruitment aligned with processes.
- Build internal career site for employees.
- Support APIs for career site integration.
- Implement onboarding forms and automated secure document extraction.
- Set-up of multiple performance management processes.
- Integrate with the Talent Review processes allowing to visualize multiple talent metrics
- Set-up a tool for efficient succession management
CUSTOMER BENEFITS...
- Standardized recruitment processes.
- Higher hiring manager involvement.
- Smooth user creation via onboarding.
- Performance process allowing to monitor delivery and development objectives.
- Talent review process building further upon the outcomes of the performance process.
- Integrate the learning solution in the talent review process.
A project in Belgium? Contact ACT-ON BELGIUM
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The Aéma Group, a leading mutual insurance company, has launched a vast project to transform its Group-wide HR Data ecosystem. In a context of consolidating data from several brands and entities, the Group called on ACT-ON DATA to help design and implement a centralized HR reporting tool.
The aim: to provide a reliable, secure and structured Group HR data platform to improve HR management, strengthen governance and meet regulatory requirements.
THE NEED...
Faced with a multi-brand organization and a diversity of HR practices and tools, Aéma Groupe had to meet several key challenges:
- HR data centralization : Gather HR data from all Group brands in a single tool, enabling the sharing of a common repository, the calculation of indicators, the production of dashboards, and the performance of internal and external benchmarks.
- Reduce HR operational workload : Automate data flows and secure data transmission, while making shared indicators more reliable.
- Meeting regulatory obligations : Facilitate the production of deliverables required by regulatory authorities by ensuring data compliance.
- Structuring data governance : Defining a common technical foundation and an evolving roadmap for the various HR areas (headcount, absenteeism, compensation, training, mobility).
OUR ANSWER...
To support the Aéma Group in this structuring project, ACT-ON DATA is deploying a progressive, collaborative and results-oriented approach:
- Fine-tuning and progressive framing of the project : Leading technical and functional design workshops in conjunction with the brands, structuring the project into 5 thematic work packages (workforce, absenteeism, compensation, training, mobility), and planning in two major phases (2025-2026).
- Modular and secure data architecture : Implementation of a common technical foundation ensuring automated and secure transmission of information by brand, the reliability of transmitted data, and their standardization.
- Iterative, pragmatic approach : each batch is subject to a dedicated design, acceptance and deployment cycle, enabling data flows to be validated and indicators to be adjusted on an ongoing basis.
- Rigorous project management : Coordination between HR departments, business referents, IT teams and data representatives via weekly monitoring committees and monthly project committees, ensuring fluid project governance.
CUSTOMER BENEFITS...
Thanks to ACT-ON DATA, the Aéma Group will be able to :
- A unified HR repository: A centralized tool for analyzing, benchmarking and managing HR data across all Group brands.
- Automate HR processes and make them more reliable: HR teams save a significant amount of time by automating transmissions and increasing the reliability of indicators.
- Build a solid foundation for future projects: A scalable data base that will enable the integration of new indicators or more advanced analytical solutions in the medium term.
- Strengthen regulatory compliance: Controlled data transmission that complies with the RGPD and is adapted to external controls.
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Un leader national du secteur des assurances, fort de 500 collaborateurs, a fait appel à ACT-ON SWITZERLAND pour l’accompagner dans la définition et la sélection de sa future solution SIRH.
THE NEED…
- Framing business and IT requirements around core HR, Payroll and Time Management themes.
- Structure and manage a rigorous and impartial selection process.
- Draw up functional and technical specifications.
- Lead workshops with stakeholders and potential editors/integrators.
- Accompany the customer in the analysis of offers and the final choice of solution.
OUR ANSWER…
- Find an integrated solution capable of responding to national specificities, while guaranteeing a seamless user experience.
- Optimize HR, payroll and time management processes, avoiding silos.
- Anticipate the need for scalability and automation to support future growth.
- Secure the decision-making process, by integrating all stakeholders (HR, Finance, IT, Management).
CUSTOMER BENEFITS…
Laying the foundations for a sustainable HR transformation aligned with corporate strategy.
Clear vision of the solutions available on the market to meet customer needs.
Transparent, structured and rapid selection process.
HRIS partner selected in line with business, technical and budgetary requirements.
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