Hybrid Profiles & Power Skills: ESGI Revamps Curriculum for Cybersecurity & Business Needs

Leading ESGI, a top school of computer engineering. What has significantly changed in the profile of computer engineers sought by companies today?

Companies are now looking for more versatile profiles to meet the challenges of increasing automation and more complex digital infrastructures. The role of IT professionals as we know it is evolving. Employers are looking for individuals capable of addressing major issues, such as changing coding practices and having deeper involvement in IT architectures.

At ESGI, we have adapted our teaching methods for many years. We anticipated the arrival of artificial intelligence. We update our courses and programs to train this new generation of hybrid experts.

What is your perspective on AI, which is increasingly impacting computer science professions?

At our school, generative AI is not seen as a threat. Many professions view it as such. Honestly, I see it more as a tool to aid collaboration. It enhances our young people’s ability to reason and be more proactive.

When ChatGPT was introduced (in November 2022), generative AI was still seen as a novelty. Who hadn’t tried OpenAI’s tool? Many people did not feel threatened by this new technology.

The challenge is not to code against AI, because AI will always be a better coder than us.

Nowadays, in the field of computing, it’s important to understand how it works and learn to code with AI. The student will act as a conductor, using autonomous agents to generate richer code in seconds. That’s why we are shifting the focus more towards mastering architecture and solving high-level problems.

Instead of spending time writing lines of code, they will think about how to implement them in a much more complex, richer system.

Why has the hybridization of skills become vital in training tomorrow’s young engineers?

In the beginning, you will learn to code in the first and second year. These are the fundamentals, and you must go through this to understand and master the basics.

What adds value to a graduate from a school like ESGI today is their ability to audit, optimize, and integrate all these components, which are generated by artificial intelligence, into more robust ecosystems.

The hybridization of skills means taking what AI gives us, understanding it, and being able to leverage it by implementing it in a much more complex architecture.

Why has cybersecurity become an essential skill for all tech profiles, even those not specializing in this area?

As coding becomes faster, we end up with a large amount of code. And the more code we generate, the more we increase the attack surface. If it is poorly done, if it is produced hastily, and if robustness and security mechanisms are not integrated into the code, we risk generating vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit.

Today, “security by design” is no longer an option.

Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent and affect all sectors, from banking systems to hospitals. What we see is that it’s not always a human behind the attack. Sometimes, it’s AI. To be able to detect these new vulnerabilities, our engineers must still be one step ahead of AI, which is crucial.

Our goal at ESGI: to train true experts in the world of cybersecurity who can face both human and AI attacks, and design resilient systems.

Cybersecurity is really a component that must be integrated from the start of a computer project because it forms the backbone of any infrastructure. At ESGI, each of our eleven specializations (see below) includes modules to learn this combination of security and artificial intelligence.

The experts we train must know how to master AI to work with them, not against them.

What about soft skills? How do they now make a difference in the IT job market?

When you are in a computer school, which is expert in areas that are very trendy today, what you need to know is that technique is not an end in itself. “Hard subjects” such as computing, programming, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, mathematics… all of this is of course very important. But in an era where everything that can be automated may be approached by AI, what will differentiate us as experts? It’s the soft skills, though I prefer the term “power skills.”

What exactly are these power skills?

These include critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and the ability to communicate. In ten years, the market will have changed significantly. AI will be more prevalent everywhere in the world of computing.

This is why we emphasize these power skills, so that our students learn to simplify increasingly complex issues for a less technical audience, for example. Because by that time, AI will handle all the automation parts.

It’s crucial to get on board with AI now.

How does ESGI incorporate these power skills into its teaching methods?

Projects are at the heart of our pedagogy. They allow students to learn project management, human relations, and communication. We organize special “Days” at ESGI, conferences, workshops, and seminars to discuss with sector experts. Students can thus enrich their network. From the first year, we offer an eight-week bootcamp to teach students both hard skills and power skills from the start.

The school’s associative life is also very dynamic, including the “Open” program. It consists of four axes: business, challenge, team spirit, and communication. Not to mention the many events we offer: hackathons, CTF (Capture The Flag), etc.

All these initiatives help develop the power skills of tomorrow.

Companies are increasingly looking for profiles with these human skills, around how you behave, how you help others… Thanks to our project-based pedagogy, we work on all these axes.

What are the emerging new professions in the era of AI?

AI is adapting many professions: it transforms some, while others may disappear. Today, the job market is not just about hiring simple executors. Recruiters need hybrid profiles.

These are architects of artificial intelligence, who are ethical, resilient, and also integrate the challenges of digital sobriety.

How to learn to code while being less resource-intensive in terms of energy, when AI is a technology that consumes a lot of resources, electrical power? Many projects are being outlined. There is a real challenge for our future IT engineers.

Becoming an engineer is also about the ability to adapt.

At ESGI, we train our young people to adapt. From the very beginning, we tell them that AI is not a hindrance and that they must integrate it at the heart of their learning. It should not be their enemy.

Apprenticeships hold a significant place at ESGI. How does this arrangement help develop the dual tech and business competence that companies increasingly need?

ESGI indeed places great emphasis on apprenticeships so that our students can work on projects at school, but also on concrete projects in companies. For me, the expert of tomorrow is a strategic player, who will understand both the business aspect and the code lines, while being able to navigate with agility in a future that will be disrupted by numerous changes.

Thanks to apprenticeships, our students are already operational in the field, which is a real goldmine for companies.

This arrangement also offers a significant financial advantage: it allows students to finance their studies while gaining concrete professional experience.

What advice would you give to those hesitant about choosing IT and ESGI for their education in 2026?

If you are not passionate about digital technology, computing, it will be difficult to progress today. If you want to turn your passion into a profession, come join us at ESGI to become the IT experts of tomorrow!

Training in IT with ESGI