The English language is very important for people who are involved in IT. This includes programmers, systems analysts, quality assurance, industrial, scientific and technological development. Most of the business world uses English to communicate internationally and so does IT.
Working in English is not unusual for IT staff
Many companies outsource or have their workforce spread over a number of different countries. As a matter of fact, most global companies use English as their primary language for emails.
All IT teams have to communicate with each other, telling what was done, and not done. For example, there could be a work group in India, then another in Germany, and the last one in Silicon Valley, California, United States. Sometimes, conference calls are scheduled to brainstorm about a new project, or to communicate results to the different teams involved. Other times, a team in one country has to train another team in a different country about the new technology used. There could be a trainer from the Silicon Valley sent to Germany for a couple of weeks to help the team based in that country with a new software.
English and Engineering schools
Many new technologies are coming from Israel and India, where there are many English speakers. Many engineering schools throughout the world require students to take English tests as part of their acceptance procedure. They have to know how to read, write, listen and speak English. This in the past has been considered “the easy” part of the entrance qualifications, but since English is so important, the engineering schools filter out students who cannot pass English test. The level is quite high, applicants also have to be able to analyze technical articles.
In order to succeed in IT you don’t only have to be competent in your IT field, you also have to master English.
