Labor & Economic News Blog

Friday, July 22, 2005

Leader: Good can come of an IT skills shortage
By silicon.com
Published: Thursday 21 July 2005
Too many IT workers are retiring from the industry and not enough graduates are coming up to replace them.

Outsourcing means companies won't need as many people with basic technical skills. Instead they will need more staff with business skills and job titles like architect or programme manager.
Signs like these of an IT skills crisis in the UK are nothing new. The industry has fretted over this topic for some time.

But rather than plunging it into despair, the news should give the industry a chance to pause and rethink how it deals with issues of training and career paths.

As the education system won't be able to churn out qualified graduates as quickly as companies will need them, in-house training and development will have to make a return.

There is a myth that investing in training is a waste of time because staff will just leave for better jobs when they've finished.

This is a short-sighted approach and one the industry must reconsider.

Of course there will be cases where people zoom off as soon as they have their qualifications. But for most people if a company invests to boost their skills, they will feel more valued and be more productive and loyal as a result. Which means saving on expensive, disruptive and time-consuming recruiting in the long run.

Added to this is the fact that too many people feel forced out of the IT workforce because they are told they are too old at 50 or even 40.

If business and management skills are going to be at more of a premium than niche technical skills, then companies should start considering the contribution that these experienced workers can make - and not assume they are fit only for the scrapheap.

A looming skills shortage could help the industry grow up. At the moment for too many IT is a job and not a career. The industry needs to think more carefully about building a career path for tech workers if we are to make it through the next skills drought

 



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