On the 29th of September, the second day of COMPFEST X’s two-day main event was held. Like the day before, there was a big playground where participants could play games and earn points, and seminars with guest speakers. Every participant had a reason they went to UI’s big audience hall that day, from playing in the playground, getting free COMPFEST X merchandise that could be bought with game-earned points, to watching Kunto Aji’s and Sal Priadi’s concerts. For me, though, there was one reason that blew all of the other fun activities COMPFEST X had to offer out of the water:  A seminar held by Mr.Giri Kuncoro, a senior software engineer from Gojek Indonesia.

Out of COMPFEST X’s already superb seminars, Mr. Kuncoro’s was the one that had the most impact on me. Mr.Kuncoro is a man who knows how to deliver his material with elequence. His delivery inspired the participants while also giving  them a good time. He has a long and impressive portofolio, including experience working in Silicon Valley where he met Silicon Valley rockstars like Guido Van Rossum, the creator of python.

The seminar he held was about talent gap. To put it shortly, Indonesia’s digital economy is growing at a very, very, rapid pace. That growth, in turn, means that the demand of IT talents is increasing at a faster rate than the growth of IT talents in Indonesia. As of right now, there’s already a considerable gap between the supply and demand of IT talents, and it will continue to grow.

Because Mr.Kuncoro is such an awesome human being, he had the chance to talk to one of the minister’s of Indonesia about the talent gap problem. The Minister of Communication and Information Technology told Mr.Kuncoro that they’re planning to add IT courses to the curriculum to help close the gap between the demand and supply of IT talents. Mr.Kuncoro thinks that this is a good long term solution, but he thinks we need to act now.

So what can we do? For college students in the IT department and COMPFEST X’s participants, Mr.Kuncoro recommended that we actually work in IT, because many people that majored in IT end up working in different fields. To improve the quality of IT talents, Mr.Kuncoro suggested that people find good mentors to teach them, expand our portofolio, and also broaden our field of view, so that we take into account the status quo of IT globally and not just in Indonesia.

To wrap up the seminar, Mr.Kuncoro asked us to look up. He asked us where the stars were, even though we were indoors and it was in the middle of the day. He then answered his own question. In his opinion, COMPFEST X’s participants, which mostly consisted of college students majoring in IT, are stars in the making, and that we will shine after we’re done preparing ourselves and dive into the working world. But he also emphasized that to become a great IT talent, you don’t have to have an IT background. Many great programmers taught themselves how to program and got to where they are now from different backgrounds. As long as there’s a voice inside of somebody calling them to be a programmer, then that person can become a great programmer. We are the solution of the talent gap problem, if we choose to heed that call. We are stars in the making. (EDM/Kyo)