Elcia is committed to the 42 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes school and is mobilizing in the face of the shortage of developers

While 83% of French software publishers face difficulties in recruiting developer profiles, ELCIA is mobilizing by becoming a patron of the Lyon campus of the famous network of 42 IT developer schools.

The objective: to forge a strong link with the students to meet its recruitment challenges, while supporting one of the few French training courses.

Cross interview

Edouard CATRICE, Managing Director of the ELCIA Group
Benjamin TARRIER, Product Director of the ELCIA Group

To begin, can you tell us more about the birth of this partnership?

Edward CATRICE: “It all starts with a clear observation: the software publishing sector is exciting and extremely buoyant, but there is a shortage of thousands of developers. 6000 just in the Lyon region! Software publishers face a

extreme competition in Lyon, but not only. With the generalization of telework, Parisian publishers are now hiring all over France in full-remote with salaries 20% higher. Worse, more and more candidates are even being offered outrageous salaries to work remotely for companies in Silicon Valley.

Another difficulty: there are only too few initiatives from the State and National Education to strengthen the sector with diploma courses. Which is quite amazing when you know that there are thousands of job seekers! It's very frustrating: we are driven by our growth, boosted by the needs of our customers, but held back by our difficulties in finding resources. Our HR are constantly on the alert to find new solutions.

For all these reasons, when Jean-Paul GENOUX, President of 42 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, asked me to become a patron of the school, it seemed obvious! »

Precisely, why school 42 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes? What seduced you?

Edward CATRICE: “42 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is a wonderful initiative that responds to the issues I mentioned. Its training is leading to a diploma and reassures employers as to the validation of technical skills. A guarantee of quality that the entire software market sorely needs.

It is a duty for us, software publisher, to support this initiative!

I always found the project remarkable, especially the idea that the development was open to everyone. This is the principle of 42 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: the school is free, without restriction of age, diploma or course. In 2021, 30% of students did not even know how to code when they entered!

But what appealed to me the most in the school's approach was the selection of students with the famous swimming pools. During a month of extreme competition, contestants must work together to complete goals. This is exactly what we find in business. To succeed, you need determination, commitment, and a sense of mutual aid and sharing: it's the ability that counts, the rest can be learned. Values that speak to me and remind me of the spirit of my engineering school. We are very excited about this partnership and want to be fully involved! »

How will this partnership live?

Benjamin Tarrier: “We want to be close to the students and support them in their learning. 42 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes relies on a peer-to-peer approach which also extends between students and companies. Our desire is to complete the school's training by giving them concrete experience of the reality of the company. On February 17, for example, we spent some time on the school premises, during which we won coaching sessions with our developers. Much more than the technical aspect, a good developer must be open-minded, know how to question themselves, have the ability to help. The 42 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes method promotes collective intelligence, and it is precisely on this key value that we rely at ELCIA to solve our complex development issues. »

Finally, what are the open recruitments at ELCIA?

Benjamin Tarrier: “The Group is recruiting more than 30 new talents in 2022. On the Product Service side, we are looking for around ten developers, both senior and novice profiles. We share the same vision as the 42 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes school: mutual aid and sharing. We look at soft skills and behavior before technical skills that can be learned. We are therefore ready to welcome novice profiles with the right values to help them grow and contribute to their skills development. It is therefore essential to work with schools like 42 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes to be visible and offer students internships, work-study programs and permanent contracts. »