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In response to market requirements and the falling number of potential job applicants speaking German, the Stengl consulting company came up with a project aimed at boosting language skills among IT professionals.
“German is a real advantage that offers many career growth opportunities, and responds to the needs of the market calling for experienced IT professionals,” Claudia Cuninková, social media and marketing manager at Stengl, told The Slovak Spectator.
Together with the Bratislava-based Goethe-Institute, an institution that supports the teaching of German and cultivates international cultural cooperation, they launched the Stengl IT Akademie project in 2016. This is a German-language course in Slovakia created specifically for IT specialists, with more than 100 graduates so far.
To attend, IT professionals have to succeed in an annual competition, composed of two selection rounds. The course teaches them how to use the right terms, define IT processes, create diagrams and data flows, and provides them with tips and tricks to create assets like user manuals.
“We believe that with this element, we contribute to a bigger puzzle that will lead to positive changes in the IT sector and the language skills of IT professionals,” Cuninková said.
Companies addressed by The Slovak Spectator confirmed that despite English remaining dominant in the international environment, they still consider German an important language. Many offer employees the opportunity to attend language courses in order to improve their knowledge.
German-speaking applicants lacking
German ranks as the second most sought-after language in the job offers published on Slovakia’s largest jobs website, Profesia.sk.
