Mass exodus of young people is critical for Moldova’s IT industry, experts

The mass departure of young persons is critical for the IT industry of Moldova, say specialists of Pentalog CEO – a foreign capital company specialized in information system engineering and consultancy. According to them, Moldova can become a country with great opportunities, but there should be made changes, including to the university programs, Info-Prim Neo reports. “2009 is a crucial year for Moldova owing to the economic crisis and the elections. I understood it at the very beginning of the year. Many young IT specialists were forced to emigrate,” the company’s president Frederic Lasnier told a news conference on August 7. Pentalog has implemented programs in Vietnam, Romania and Moldova. In Moldova, it has worked for five years. “Emigration in Moldova sees upward trends, while in other countries it diminishes,” Lasnier said. Pentalog compared the salaries paid at its branches in Chisinau, Iasi, Brasov and Sibiu and ascertained that Moldovan engineers’ salaries are identical with those of the Romanian engineers. “However, the Romanian specialists do not go to other countries. None of the company’s 250 employees in Romania left last year!” Frederic Lasnier stressed. Representatives of Pentalog said that during discussions with them, all the leaders of the largest IT companies in Moldova confirmed that they intend to leave. “If this trend persists, the existence of the Moldovan IT sector, which is not yet very known in the world, but is developing progressively, will be under threat during the next five years,” Lasnier said. The company’s administration also said that the office in Moldova develops steadily. Despite the crisis, the personnel grew by 30%. “The group Pentalog and I myself chose to invest in this country and represent it outside its borders. We have 100 employees involved in large-scale projects and do not intend to stop here. On the contrary, we think that we could make more in Moldova, which deserves a place among the IT nations,” the company’s president said. According to Lasnier, Moldova has such advantages as the geographical position, the free market and the fact that the Moldovan specialists are rather proficient in foreign languages. Serghei Goloborodico, the director of the Pentalog office in Moldova, said that the company cooperates efficiently with the Technical University of Moldova and would like to cooperate with the State University. “We organize internships for the students of this university, but the IT program of this institution should be improved because we cannot teach them everything,” Goloborodico said.