Ahmadz Village

 
By: Claude-Olivier Fontaine
[Hello from the World series]

First of all, I would like to thank my friend Ahmad Fathy who offered me the opportunity to write this article upon his blog, as a french Microsoft Student Partner

My name is Claude-Olivier Fontaine, I am graduated in Maths (3 years) and Information Systems (1 year), and I am currently following a Master’s in Management and Information Technologies (1 year) at the IAE Aix-en-Provence Graduate School of Management. Three years ago, I became Microsoft Student Partners both for my involvement around the .NET development platform and for my project of club in my former university.

Before, towards the age of thirteen years old, my only dream was to make a successful career of professional sportsman (cycling). But some problems of health stopped my evolution and I discovered about early 2001, by the merest chance, the world of the computers. I started to code in C, C++, Java, and I discovered the C# / NET Framework 1.1 about 2002. I carried out a lot of personal .NET projects (Windows Forms and ASP .NET), relatively simple but really formative, between 2002 and 2004. Then, I began to explore the wide field of the information systems architectures (Enterprise Architecture, SOA) with its business aspects (Business Processes, BPM, business needs analysis). These subjects are extremely fascinating since they give you an interesting general view on the computer world and you learn every day a lot of things.

Although I no longer develop a lot, the C# remains my favorite language because of its pleasant aspect and of the highly integrated applications with the Microsoft platform (.NET 3.5, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, etc.) that it allows to build.

France and Information Technologies

Still today, thanks to our excellent training courses, the french developers stay undoubtless among the best world software developers. The french university training in computing are strongly focalized on the following topics during the first three / four years : maths, algorithms, low-level programming languages, computing formal theories and other scientific theories. With such a program, the students have the possibility to acquire a very good fundamental technical skills. The last university year is dedicated to some technological projects (most of the time over Java EE, Web development, sometimes over .NET, etc.) and to very few business-oriented topics such as management, project management, communication, computer and business.

Despite our excellence in the fundamental skills, we suffer from important weaknesses in the new information technologies and business field. We have the potential but our universities and our schools (in France, we make the difference between a school and a university) are very anchored on their Cartesian values. I mean that most of computing curricula propose a lot of advanced mathematics subjects and theoretical concepts whereas the business-oriented subjects are almost non-existent or insufficient. In other words, the theory we learn is rarely linked to an industrial or technological application. Our computing curricula must keep their qualities but they should be able to adapt to the new market needs.

The consequences of this vision are far from to be negligible on the french market.

The direct consequence, it is worldwide trend, is the IT skills shortage. It concerns not only the technological skills but also the communication skills, the interpersonal skills (ability to work with people who don’t share the same experience), the ability to apply technical skills to business challenges and the ability to understand the customers’ needs.

A more local consequence is the importance that the french companies attach to the diploma. Firstly, as regards the young graduates, the first salary will depend on the diploma (of course, with a same given level) and not on the abilities. Secondly, the hierarchical progression of the experimented IT professionals will depend on the diploma’s level and not on the experience. I have the perfect example of a colleague who is currently following a Master’s degree because he would like to evolve. What is his profile ? He just has a graduate (four years after high school) of information systems, more than 15 years of significant experiences (with 10 years on the international stage) in a famous softwares company and he has very good management skills. This kind of situation is more than ridiculous but I think the things will change necessarily in the next years.

The french Microsoft Student Partners program

I would like to conclude this article simply by thanking some actors without whom I would not know Ahmad, Fabrizio, Omar and my other MSP colleagues crazy about new technologies :-) So, thank you to Jennifer Perret, the global manager of the MSP program. Thank you to Ségolène Hémar, our french Manager, for her dynamism and her great work !

@Omar : many congratulations for your presentation !

(The Eiffel Tower in Paris)