Trabalhadores do conhecimento: estudo sobre possibilidades de inserção de profissionais qualificados em atividades intensivas em conhecimento na indústria de software

Abstract

This study starts with unsystematic field observations which suggesting that highly skilled professionals in this sector are often not placed in valued insertion positions in this industry’s value chain. This study investigates the high skilled professionals’ insertion in advanced positions of the IT industry value chain, in Brazilian context, interrogating about the relationship between higher education qualification and performance in advanced positions of value chain’s IT industry. The theoretical framework is grounded on two main axes: studies on IT services’ value chain and studies on knowledge work. The assumptions of this research are: a) Higher Education Institutions as key actors in the production of economic value in the "Information Age"; b) the need to develop new capabilities to managing professionals in the "Information Age", and c) knowledge work as a set of activities involving features such as autonomy, creativity, problem solving, and that enable mobility and self-management career. These assumptions underpin the two central study’s propositions: p1) the more skilled IT worker, the more likely it is to enter into higher levels of the IT value chain; and p2) workers who occupy the higher levels of the IT value chain play activities with content closer to knowledge work. The methodology used was a field study with conducting semi-structured interviews with professors and students who graduated from Computer Science. Based on the data, it was found that the interviewed graduates are occuping positions in the initial levels of software value chain, however, they are playing activities with characteristics of knowledge work. It was also observed that the high demand for professionals in the IT industry, stimulated by the domestic market, produces a diversified work context in which the higher education degree is undervalued, being prioritized experience and other behavioral attributes associated with capabilities like continuous learning, results orientation, systemic vision, communication and negotiation skills, among others. It was found that training in higher education promotes these skills, in addition to enabling the insertion outside of Brazil, providing greater stability and give access to better job opportunities.