According to a recent study from McKinsey, APIs have switched from tech essential to business priority – especially in banking. But are there enough training and experts on the market to face such a growing demand?
It is true that digitalization has exponentially increased the demand for APIs in all business fields over the past few years. And faced with this strong demand, not only is there a lack of trained experts, but companies are faced with old IT architectures and teams rarely trained for such a transformation. That’s why at Cap4 Lab, understanding and responding to this new need has been a priority. To do so, we chose to recruit employees with whom we would train simultaneously. The bet paid off, investing time in our employees’ learning allowed them to become experts in the field and thus satisfy our clients.
The ICT industry is known to be very masculine. Do you believe in positive discrimination – towards women in this case – as a way to turn the tide?
Talking about discrimination is quite delicate. It’s more about the communication around IT jobs and possible prejudices about this sector. But the numbers speak for themselves, the function is more represented by men. For us, the policy is clear, no function at Cap4 Lab is gendered. There is therefore no debate regarding discrimination. Our recruitment is primarily based on soft skills and in this perspective, as many men as women are future API Developers or Managers.
The key is to support everyone in the development of their career. Inclusion happens naturally. So if we manage to achieve a higher than average percentage of women, it is mainly because we offer them the same tools and the same treatment as our male employees. Then, it is they who decide to trust us!
From an HR perspective, what did you implement to favor Diversity and Inclusion within the company?
Diversity and inclusion come naturally at Cap4 Lab, starting from the recruitment process. Our employees have very diverse personal stories and backgrounds. What we create above all are moments of sharing, to encourage exchange and for everyone to benefit from each other’s experience.
Our premises are a reflection of this desire to share, with many spaces designed for coexistence. The game room is one of the highlights where all employees gather, regardless of gender or hierarchical level.
Overall, we always strive to ensure a certain fairness of treatment among all employees and listen to everyone’s requests, which allows us to respect our employees’ situations and make everyone feel included despite differences.
You collaborate a lot with ADEM. Why is it important for you to welcome atypical candidates, including refugees?
Behind the term “atypical” hides a lot of meanings. However, we can indeed say that we recruit employees from ADEM who generally share a common point, the motivation to learn and practice an IT job that they are passionate about. It is their backgrounds and diverse life experiences that then constitute a human wealth for CAP 4 LAB.
Just take a stroll through the Luxembourg offices to see it, between a multicultural and multilingual environment, everyone finds their place, to make their story and experience an added value in their career. Where our HR policy comes into play is that we want our collaboration with each individual to be primarily a win-win exchange, and thanks to that, many success stories can now be told… Being registered with ADEM, passionate about IT and Chinese culture, to become the Country Manager China a few years later, is what happened to David. And this resonates with many other career paths, like Johnny’s for the opening of our office in Portugal.
So for CAP 4 LAB, a professional reconversion is not atypical, it is rather proof of working with people who know where they want to go and who have the motivation and courage to give themselves the means to do so.
The same goes for refugees, their profiles are not just limited to their life story. We see beyond that and listen first and foremost to the deeper meaning they can bring to a job.
We only take care of valuing their work and giving them the context to do so. And that is clearly the group’s greatest success!
