The race to create North Macedonia’s next-gen IT talent

How to train the next generation of software engineers and data scientists is now one of North Macedonia’s most critical priorities, especially regarding the future of its IT industry. With companies hunting for skills, and students looking for fast, reliable ways to land jobs - the education system is starting to feel the heat.

The transformation is being driven by two distinct forces in the tech education landscape. On one side is FINKI (the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at the "SS. Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje), a state university offering full academic programs and degrees in computer science. On the other are private IT academies, led by companies like Brainster, which started as a tech skills bootcamp and has since evolved into an accredited college with ambitions that reach beyond the conventional higher education.

Together, the two represent opposing but increasingly intertwined approaches to IT education in the Balkans - the steady advancement approach that state universities follow, and the fast-and-flexible bootcamp-style experience. In recent years, a quiet race between them has been growing louder, as both compete to shape and supply the country’s IT talent infrastructure.

Building engineers, the traditional way

Each year, a total of approximately 1,500 students enroll in IT and ICT programs across North Macedonia. Public faculties such as FINKI and UIST (University of Information Science and Technology “St. Paul the Apostle” in Ohrid) account for a significant share of this pipeline, while private universities and tech academies also contribute a growing portion of the talent pool.

At just 23, Darko Sasanski is already a teaching assistant at FINKI and a machine learning engineer - a journey that began when he enrolled as a student in 2020 and rapidly advanced through graduation into the professional world.

“My experience shows that the foundation was solid enough to land a job that required a high level of knowledge. Of course, every student’s journey is different, and it’s essential to dedicate time to self-development in order to become the kind of engineer who can work in the IT industry. If used properly, the university can truly prepare you to become a capable engineer,” he says.

However, Darko also admits that the system is working on catching up:

"Coding has changed. Tools have changed. Industry practices have changed, too, so we are also rethinking how exams are conducted - and even how lectures are delivered. We need to reassess how we test students and embrace technologies like AI in the learning process. For instance, we already have around 30 courses that cover different aspects of AI development at our university," he says.

Asked about the effectiveness of fast-track tech programs, Darko remains skeptical of the bootcamp route. “At FINKI, you earn the title of graduate engineer, while academies offer certificates like “programming academy” or “web design academy.” These are not comparable. The two types of professionals are trained differently. Yes, someone might have the skills to code and work with modern technologies, but there are certain things that simply can’t be mastered in six months or even a year,” he explains.

That view is also shared by Dr. Riste Stojanov, Vice Dean at FINKI and Ph.D. in computer science and engineering.

He shared his views:

FINKI combines traditional fundamental education with practical application. What the academies offer is training in specific tools or platforms. That’s not engineering. We’re not dismissing their role - there’s clearly a need for what they provide - but they’re not our competition. We offer something fundamentally different.”

Stojanov is proud of the scale FINKI has achieved - over the last decade, more than 12,000 students have passed through its programs. However, there are limitations - such as the fact that, after 15 years, the university still doesn’t have its own dedicated building. In the last three years, though, collaboration with nearby faculties has made it possible to provide fully in-person teaching on campus.

“We’ve been waiting for that building through five different governments. In spite of that, we stay in touch with both students and industry, adapting to their needs without making false promises that someone can learn programming in a year. For most people, it takes time to learn, and universities are the place for that,” Stojanov points out.

On what is the university’s role in the future of tech education in the country, he sees FINKI’s role as long-term and strategic.

”We are also building relationships with institutions to ensure that all our students who need internships can be connected with interested companies. If the IT industry does not have enough open positions, there are various roles within institutions where they can gain both technical and business domain experience,” Stojanov emphasizes, while adding that such initiatives embrace the university’s goal to build and support the country’s digital ecosystem

Fast track to the market

On the other side of town, entrepreneur Petar Ninovski is pushing a very different model. As the founder of edtech organization Brainster, he believes education should move at the speed of the market:

A diploma no longer guarantees a job - young graduates are entering the toughest employment period yet, hit by a triple shock: AI is taking over junior tasks, the market is cooling after the post-COVID boom, and education is increasingly misaligned with real-world needs.

Though his background is in mechanical engineering, in 2015 he identified a digital skills gap emerging from the digital transformation wave - and founded Brainster to address it.

“Education as a system hasn’t fundamentally changed in the last three decades. Many people within academia still believe they know best. The system mostly operates on a “push” model - it doesn’t take feedback from the industry on what’s really needed. There’s no “pull”, Ninovski points out.

In 2022, the company also launched Brainster Next College, which has since enrolled over 200 students. In total, as Ninovski explains, more than 13,000 students have come through Brainster’s doors, and more than 2,800 now work in IT.

“Over the last ten years, we have trained people to become employable in the digital transformation fields - programming, marketing, design, data science. We've trained around 12,000 to 13,000 people in these areas. But what we need to do in the next five years is train at least another 10,000 people with AI skills - consultants, implementers, etc,” Ninovski says.

Still, he admits the academy model has its limits. “One mistake we made over the past decade is that we didn’t focus enough on creating entrepreneurs or encouraging entrepreneurship. We trained people to get jobs - not to build companies. That was a big mistake. There were a few organizations in the country that did more in that area, but overall, not enough was done to shift that mindset,” he reflects.

And while he says Brainster has informal ties with professors from traditional universities, the relationship remains delicate.

“We collaborate with university professors, but the reality is that most educational institutions don’t really welcome us. Still, if we look at the impact that Brainster and Brainster Next have had on the country, one of the biggest contributions is that we have taken these institutions out of their status quo. We have pushed them to innovate in education,” Ninovski says proudly.

A shared goal from two different directions

For all their differences, both sides actually agree on more than they disagree.

Stojanov is very clear that the market needs both kinds of skills - deep theoretical knowledge and immediately applicable tools. To address this, FINKI is launching a new partnership program with the IT industry, which, as he points out, is going through a challenging period due to the bubble created by the influx of low-quality personnel into IT companies.

“This situation has also affected us as a faculty. When students start working, university often becomes their second priority, and they miss out on learning some of the fundamental skills they should acquire during their studies, trading them instead for narrow, practical specializations that the job market can easily replace with AI,” Stojanov says.

Still, he acknowledges the value of short-term programs in certain contexts.”You might gain a narrowly specialized skill, but based on our experience and the number of students going through FINKI, it takes time to master the concepts and then understand and apply them,” he adds.

For Ninovski, the real challenge now is finding a way to scale talent production to meet the demands of a growing tech economy. “We can produce hundreds of talented individuals, but it’s not enough to attract major companies and industries. For bigger things to happen, the state also has to help grow this story - with initiatives, capital, and more. If we want to keep pace with AI, this needs to happen as soon as possible,” he says.

And while they might not always see eye to eye, state institutions and private academies are driven by the same mission, which is to make sure that North Macedonia’s IT industry stays competitive.

Ninovski concludes:

We need an education system where all components - institutions, formal and non-formal learning, and cultural factors - work in sync. Only then can we consistently produce top-tier talent, ready when the market needs it. Just as crucial is a clear national strategy: where does the country see itself in the next ten years? That’s the question that should guide everything.

For Stojanov, the IT industry, under the guidance provided by the education system, should shift its emphasis away from outsourcing and toward building tech companies and startups developing their own products.

“We already have dozens of examples of students and alumni who have created very successful startups and companies, and we hope to see even more successful examples in the future that will monetise through strong businesses. That is the future, and it is where both students and those in the IT industry should direct their focus.” he highlights.

Ultimately, both the public sector and private education providers are working toward the same outcome: building a future-ready tech workforce. Reaching that goal though, will require better coordination between formal education, alternative learning paths, and long-term national planning. And as North Macedonia’s tech economy grows, so does the need for talent - not just in quantity, but in quality and readiness. To reach this goal, both sides need to increase their efforts and focus on building a stronger pipeline for innovation and product development, and ensure that the entire ecosystem benefits.