Natalya Ivanova: "Learning and obtaining new digital supra-professional skills is becoming the main trend"
Natalya Ivanova, head of the IPR MEDIA group of companies and the Association of Women Leaders of Digital Transformation, took part in a meeting of the International Discussion Club of the Eurasian Association of Women - Regional Leaders on the topic “Digitalization of work processes. Transformation of women's employment during a pandemic, in the post-period ”, which took place within the framework of the XII International IT Forum with the participation of the BRICS and SCO countries in Khanty-Mansiysk.Natalia Ivanova answered questions about the development of new formats in education, as well as the role of women in the IT industry.
- A consistently high demand for developers, analysts, project managers in the IT field has been persisting for several years. In your opinion, what are the prospects for this direction?
- Now we see how the need for digital personnel is changing, it is growing exponentially. Market demands are being transformed to meet the needs of the digital economy.
The World Economic Forum's analytical report The Future of Jobs Report 2020 suggests that by 2025, 85 million existing jobs will be out of date, while approximately 97 million new ones will appear. About one in two workers in the world will need to upd ate their skills. Self-education of the adult working-age population is becoming the main trend. Already now, it is important to carry out the digitization of personnel at different levels: fr om a mass retraining model to a one to one model with the participation of mentors and expert employers. We are now seeing how professions are being transformed inside and which specialists must be retrained in order to be effective in the digital economy.
It is important that the same report provides not only numbers, but also directions that will be in demand. The market demand for digital is growing in various areas of the economy: digital marketing, digital management, digital design, digital jurisprudence, digital accounting.
That is, a digital component appears in any profession. Every future specialist, be it a doctor, teacher or engineer, must undergo that very over-professional pre-digitalization, which will allow him to be successful in the modern world.
- How can people find themselves in a changing world, how to get a demanded digital specialty?
- We must understand that development within any specialties should be ongoing. Lifelong learning, the ability to competently build your own educational trajectory, obtaining new supra-professional digital competencies are becoming the main trend and the most important skills of any person who wants to be successful in the future.
For example, telegraph operators used to transmit messages in Morse code and were considered a privileged caste. But with the proliferation of telephone communications, this specialty is gone. It is the same with the profession of a programmer: we can already create websites on our own using various tools and solutions. Therefore, I think that some kind of "digitalization", "twisting" and "assembly" of any profession should take place inside each person.
The Association of Women Leaders of Digital Transformation sets itself an important task - the creation of an accessible system for the digitization of personnel, a digital platform for aggregating best practices and courses, rating programs for additional professional education (DPO), involving the working population in the digital economy, calling for self-development, creating programs, focused on a specific person, whose life and destiny are changing for the better.
- But how can this person figure out and build their own personal educational strategy?
- This is the biggest question. And here a very important role is played by experts, mentors who are able to help specialists, help already experienced people who are successfully working in their fields.
At the same time, there is an acute issue of expert assessment of existing retraining programs, their relevance, usefulness, and relevance. On the digital platform (the marketplace of additional professional education programs), which the Association creates, courses, university programs of additional professional education that have passed expert rating will be accumulated.
The platform will have nothing to do with such products as Coursera, Open Education, etc. Our goal is not to host the course, but to create a toolkit with which the user can learn about its existence, apply and even pay.
Work in this direction began not so long ago, but the project is based on 15 years of experience of IPR MEDIA in the field of education, which allowed to accumulate a knowledge base, skills and strengthen partnerships. The company cooperates with more than 400 Russian universities. At regular meetings with their leaders, we see how badly universities need to develop their own CVE programs, especially given that this area is included in the Priority 2030 program.
Now the company is implementing a very important for digitalization to IPR TRANSFER, a large-scale network initiative for the development of university and scientific knowledge. The key partners are the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), the Russian State Library and Innopolis University. The initiative involves the creation of Transfer Centers on the basis of higher education institutions and scientific organizations for consulting work and exchange of experience. But most importantly, it will help create content for training digital specialists in universities, providing digital modules of existing training programs with high-quality educational literature.
- Tell us more about the marketplace for DPO courses.
- Take, for example, a regional university and a useful training program that it has developed, which is not known to a wide range of people. The expert community will allow this program to be distributed outside the university by posting information about it on the marketplace, thereby attracting the target audience. We will not only offer the selection of courses, but also carry out their expert assessment and rating, and become the operator of mass training programs.
In May, we held an international conference "Women Leaders of Digital Transformation: Education, Business, Industry" in the online format, among the participants of which were the management of the leading Russian universities. University representatives spoke about their programs and outlined the problem of lack of communication.
Support in this direction is very important and we received feedback from ASI. The reaction to the project makes it clear that it is needed, that the market is at its peak. Now there are many attempts to create marketplaces, but we are entering as an independent platform. We do not represent a specific university, but give preference to those interesting programs that are selected by experts.
- How exactly do you help people to improve their qualifications, to get demanded digital competencies?
- Work is underway to create a career and educational intensive “Happy ticket to the digital”. In my opinion, it has no analogues: it has built a chain from training to employment opportunities.
An expert selects a course of additional professional education, training takes place under the supervision and support of a mentor from a particular enterprise. After the internship, those who have successfully completed the program may be recruited.
Our task: to gather an interested group, organize the work of experts and mentors, conduct entrance testing and accompany during the entire training. As a result, we measure the results in the form of concretely arranged employees with new competencies.
- In your opinion, will such an intensive course be in demand?
- It should be borne in mind that the online product market is developing rapidly and it is very important to screen out low-quality offers. Expertise and rating will just play into the hands. Nobody wants to listen to abstract stories, theories and lectures, because a specific case is important to a person, which he can immediately apply and get the result in the form of rewards, bonuses, time savings, efficiency gains, career growth or a change in the type of activity.
The digitalization of everything and everyone has hidden problems. For example, it is not uncommon for a person to study, get crusts, but do not become a highly qualified specialist.
Today there is an opportunity for everyone to do their own thing, develop their expertise, and promote it with the help of numbers. One of the missions of the Association is to develop a person and his existing competencies.
- The IT industry is striding rapidly, not only technologies are becoming obsolete, but also gender stereotypes. Please comment on what difficulties a woman is facing today in this direction.
- I am a mother of three children and created my own business when I found out that I would soon have a baby. Therefore, to be honest, I see no obstacles for women to achieve their goals, including getting IT specialties. We are more sociable and empathic, we know how to get out of conflict situations, we are multitasking. I believe that these qualities give women great opportunities for self-determination in numbers and in order to become effective managers.
Those girls, girls, women who go into the IT industry, as a rule, already from school, know whether they have the ability for mathematics. But there is absolutely no need to force yourself, to overcome your own inclinations. The state now helps schoolchildren with self-determination; special Olympiads are held for this in educational organizations.
At the same time, I want to emphasize that the “figure” is not terrible, but interesting. My business started in 2005 and has since gone digital. I do not have a specialized education, nevertheless, I manage a staff of programmers, se t technical specifications, because I see how this system should look and how to respond to consumer requests.
At the same time, many courses and programs have been developed specifically for women that help them find themselves and their vocation, and develop existing skills. For example, in June I completed the training program "Woman Leader", which is implemented by the Management Workshop "Senezh" of the presidential platform "Russia is a country of opportunities ”with the support of the Council of the Eurasian Women's Forum under the Federation Council. And this training is an organic continuation of my personal educational trajectory. I am sure that knowledge can be obtained always and everywhere, if there is a goal and a willingness to achieve it.
- On the company's website, you indicated that the most important thing for you is never to stop. Wh ere do you get energy for new heights? How do you manage not to burn out?
I am by nature a person who cannot sit still. Therefore, the entire company is working at exactly the same speed - ahead of the curve. If you take me personally, after graduating from a university with a degree in State and Municipal Administration, I became an official. And I realized that it was not mine at all. I am always in search of something new, and these are not only business projects.
When you feel that the idea is needed and important, then everything else is applied by itself. In 2010, we launched an electronic library system, which is now one of the three best in Russia. It was possible to stop and not develop, but for a whole year during the pandemic, we were able to work very fruitfully. During this time, we have launched two new very important projects. This is an electronic educational resource for secondary vocational education PROF education and the platform "Russian as a Foreign" for universities, which has designated for us the points of interaction with international universities. Here we found a request for the export of education and, concentrating on the topic of studying Russian as a foreign language, made a platform with the necessary scientific and methodological base. This resource is free for students and teachers.
We are now launching a large online school for international students as part of the Russian Exporting Universities network partnership. It was created in March of this year and today unites about 20 universities and experts, including for the exchange of practices, improving the competencies of the teaching staff in teaching foreigners the Russian language, creating and improving educational, methodological and control and measuring materials.
There are already partners who provide support, which in itself energizes, gives confidence.
An invitation to the International IT Forum is also an indicator that the work of the Association of Women Leaders of Digital Transformation is important. This gives me the strength to move on.
And, of course, simple human joys, such as family, vacation with children - all this gives energy.
- And a little about personal. Do you have any hobbies?
- Since my life is constantly changing directions, I cannot say what my hobby is. I love to play sports. I love running, and for me it's also a zone of balance. It is important for me to be alone for a while in order to fill. But the creation of important projects, the ability to develop myself and help others develop is my most important mission.
Event photo
