Munyong Sik "The Second Developer Crisis Triggered by Digital Transformation... Bold Measures Needed Such as Expanding 'Byeongteuk'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] "This is the second developer crisis. If the IT boom in the late 1990s to early 2000s was the first crisis, now the demand for (developers) has expanded about 10 times compared to then. Extraordinary and bold measures are needed."

Moon Yong-sik, President of the National Information Society Agency (NIA), said in an interview with Asia Economy on the 2nd about the recent peak in the developer shortage, "The shortage of developers has appeared as all industries adopt digital transformation," diagnosing it as "one of the ripple effects of the Digital New Deal."

As the original proposer of the Digital New Deal, President Moon is a figure who has been active in the ICT field for over 20 years since founding Nowcom (currently AfreecaTV). He has served as the Digital Communication Committee Chair of the Democratic Party, a member of the Presidential 4th Industrial Revolution Committee, and has been leading the NIA, the national informatization promotion agency, since April 2018.

◆ "Expansion of Military Service Special Cases and Visa System Innovation Needed"

Having witnessed the first developer crisis on the ground, President Moon said, "This is a much larger crisis," adding, "During the first crisis, IT companies hired developers, but now there are many more IT companies and all industries are adopting them."

He explained that especially after COVID-19, the government's Digital New Deal agenda accelerated the non-face-to-face era and acted as a catalyst that maximized this developer crisis. Criticizing the lack of sufficient prior preparation, he emphasized, "Even now, the government must establish well-planned mid- to long-term measures. In the short term, extraordinary and bold measures are necessary."

First, President Moon advocated, "Military service special cases should be expanded." He also said, "The visa system should be improved so that excellent developers from overseas can come (to Korea)," criticizing, "Currently, the E7 visa recognizes only those who graduated from the top 200 universities worldwide in software as experts. Even Steve Jobs would not get a visa if he did not graduate from a software department." He also pointed out the need for short-term training programs and expanded re-education for career-disrupted majors as necessary measures.

In the mid- to long-term, he raised his voice for drastically increasing software-related departments and overhauling the education system. He said, "Besides computer engineering, departments that teach software for a certain number of hours or more should have their quotas significantly increased," adding, "More fundamentally, why do we separate humanities and sciences in high school? Scientific thinking skills should be cultivated during school years."

◆ First Year Report Card of the Digital New Deal: "Successful"

President Moon emphasized that the essence of the Digital New Deal, a post-COVID-19 measure, is 'jobs.' He explained, "After the COVID-19 situation, the inevitable issues following the quarantine crisis were economic problems and job issues," adding, "South Korea accelerated job policies by effectively utilizing its strength in digital."

From the perspective of jobs, the first-year report card of the Digital New Deal can be called "successful." According to NIA, which oversees the trillion-won scale Digital New Deal projects, about 40,000 Digital New Deal-related jobs were created last year, mainly through AI learning data construction projects. President Moon explained, "We maximized the use of crowdsourcing platforms," adding, "At first, the government provides beginner-level jobs and enables leveling up to intermediate and advanced levels, creating a detailed career ladder."

However, there are some regrets. He said, "Since the Digital New Deal was prepared in a short time, it was rushed," and added, "Going forward, goals should be specified to achieve qualitative results." Regarding the criticism that public perception is still low, he responded, "The increase in jobs and the growth of innovative companies are achievements," and asked to evaluate based on these aspects.

President Moon predicted that the heyday of AI-based innovative startups will come soon. He said, "Companies ranked in the top 10 in various domains around the world will emerge," adding, "If the Digital New Deal waters them, the private sector will receive and make them bloom." As a former business executive, he pointed out cloud as the area where companies should invest more in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.