What does Gen Z bring to the IT industry?

Recently, on our blog, we discussed the topic of Age Diversity in Mobile Reality and how people over 50 feel when they enter IT for the first time. This article attracted a lot of attention, but now we would like to take a closer look at Generation Z, which is taking its first professional steps and doing so in the IT industry. Let’s read our article, where we will tell you about the challenges, difficulties, and expectations of the most creative generation of all time.

What is the Gen Z?

Generation Z is very often spoken of in the context of a very demanding generation, which in return doesn’t give much, but we at Mobile Reality disagree with this statement. At Mobile Reality, we believe that Generation Z refreshed the IT industry, changed many old rules, and helped develop new work standards that weren’t yet possible to implement for 10 years. Who exactly are the people of this generation? These people were born in the years from 1996 to 2015, and they are just taking their first steps in adult life. They are open, creative, not afraid of any challenges, and clearly communicate their needs/opinions. They are people open to learning about tech innovations who, like no generation before, are the most technologically adept and cannot imagine their everyday life without a phone with access to their favorite apps.

What does Gen Z bring to the workplace?

As we wrote earlier, first: refreshing the industry. Generation Z is one of the first to break the existing rules, not afraid to speak out loud that something is not working. This generation is eager to propose changes and make the company more modern in an increasingly dynamic market. Even if people from generation Z don’t yet have sufficient qualifications to perform important functions in the company, it’s these people who force the organization to adapt to modern standards. And with this action, they contribute to the continuous growth of the company’s development. Even older people benefit from the presence of Gen Z, because being among younger employees, they can learn about much news, get to know a completely new perspective, and, above all, meet very creative people.

What expectations does Gen Z have at work in the IT industry?

Diversity — Gen Z want to work in a diverse work environment, where they can work with people of different ages, orientations, and religions. Where they meet people of various professional seniority and where, by exchanging knowledge with more experienced colleagues, they’ll be able to develop all the time their skills and competencies. Gen Z is a generation that supports movements such as LGBT and cannot imagine working in an environment that is not open to everyone.

Integration into the team — like all previous generations, Gen Z also wants to be part of the group. They want to be sure that, together with their team, they can achieve even more. Gen Z wants cool colleagues at work to meet on Friday night for a beer, whom they can call with any problem. They will not find themselves in a team where people don’t know and don’t like each other.

Career customization — as one of the first generations, gen Z doesn’t want to work all their life in one company, in one profession, in one team. They want to experience and model their professional career in accordance with their current needs. Sometimes, even within one company, gen Z wants to be able to customize their career by the possibility of being promoted to a higher position or freely transferring to a completely new, but interesting department that allows them to discover their purpose and expand their skill set even further.

Pay Justice — This is something that becomes the standard. Undoubtedly, this was most influenced by Gen Z, which made the advertisements include the scope of the proposed payout. Thanks to this, situations in which 2 people, in the same position, in the same company, have 2 different levels of remuneration are less and less frequent. Gen Z wants to know if their salary is fair, in line with the company’s payroll policy, and if they are being treated fairly on the team. Improve your company’s payroll policy and Gen Z will be happy to work in a place like this.

Purpose — Gen Z wants to know what the purpose of their work is. They want to see the real impact of their work, not only on the company but also on the world. They want to do something great that will translate into their lives and the lives of the next generations. A job that makes no sense for the employee or the world? This will definitely not be a good job for Gen Z.

Choice — Gen Z wants to have a choice whether it is about flexibility in working time, whether they work from home, a beach, or an office building. This generation is flexible and adaptable to anything but wants to be able to choose. If you work remotely, give them the opportunity to show up in the office, even if it’s just a coworking space. If you work in an office, let them take home office sometimes. If Gen Z has a choice, they will select what is best for them, and it will ultimately affect the effectiveness of their work.

Tech news — Gen Z doesn’t want to work on a laptop from 10 years ago and doesn’t want to work with old technologies. Gen Z wants to develop and work better and more efficiently, but to be able to do it, they want to work with modern work tools. Remember, if you want a modern company, take care of a modern work environment for your employees.

Work-life balance — a lot is said about it, which meant that for some it has become just a slogan. The truth is that no one cares more about maintaining a balance in life than people from Generation Z, who want to both give 100% at work and be able to enjoy life after working hours. Gen Z cares about their private life, they do not neglect any sphere of their lives, know what they want, and do not want to repeat the mistakes of their parents and grandparents who spent their entire lives at work. Gen Z wants to enjoy life and works with positive energy in a company that does something good for the world.

What challenges does Gen Z face at the beginning of their IT career?

Competition — the competition in IT is huge, and it is getting harder and harder to get the first job as a junior. Very often there are as many as 500 CVs for one junior position, which is why, unfortunately, Gen Z has to put in a lot of work and energy to get the first job. Best advice? Stand out, learn all the time, work on your own projects, be polite and punctual — simple, but more and more simple things are being forgotten,

Tech innovations — the necessity to keep up with technical innovations and new technologies/programming languages ​​can overwhelm even people with many years of professional experience. After all, gen Z has the advantage that they grew up with many technologies, so with a little time and patience, they are able to keep up to date with everything, which is the obvious advantage of this generation,

Changeable environment — the world has been developing surprisingly fast in recent years, which means that changes in companies are often introduced overnight. This requires quick adaptation, a change of direction, and a change in approach to everything — not all can easily adapt to such a dynamic environment,

English is a must-have — in the IT industry, it is extremely difficult to get a job without knowing English. English in IT is the main language for communication and that will not change. If you want Gen Z to feel comfortable with it, it’s worth supporting your employees in learning this language.

Productivity and mental health challenge — Gen Z is the first generation to have conducted/completed their education completely remotely due to the pandemic. They are the generation that learned to function in such a reality, but at the same time began to notice that the complete lack of interpersonal contacts affects their productivity and well-being. Advice? Integrations, meetings, virtual meetings, talks, and a lot of sports in free time.

The need to achieve success — Gen Z is a generation that, apart from achieving a balance in life, also wants to achieve enormous professional success. This is because the era of the influencers has shown that success is possible in a very simple and magical way. Unfortunately, these influencers often don’t show what their path really looked like and what sacrifices it cost them. Such a false picture of reality could be harmful and could cause Gen Z to get lost in the vision of quick success, instead of focusing on their real needs, which could be related simply to a small house in the middle of the forest.

Gen Z is definitely a unique generation. On the one hand, it’s a generation that has access to knowledge from all over the world and can achieve anything they can think of. On the other hand, they have to enter the labor market in times of global changes, which is a big challenge for everyone. We strongly believe that generation Z is a generation that will handle all difficulties like no previous generation and will change our world for the better.

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This story was originally published here.