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08 Feb 2008
Gartner is warning of a worldwide shortage in IT personnel as the coming generation shun the industry because of a perceived lack of glamour and a reputation for hard work.
The analyst firm claimed that the current shortage is different from the skills gap that emerged in the dotcom era, as it affects all areas of the IT industry and not just specific technical skills.
"This is a devastating skills shortage at a time when there is a surge in the number of projects that are required from IT," said Andy Kyte, vice president and Gartner Fellow.
"I keep meeting CIOs who say they will be running resource-constrained projects in 2008, not from the budget but from the lack of the right people."
Some have suggested that outsourcing is the way forward, but even this faces major problems as the IT skills shortage is also affecting developing countries and shows no sign of abating.
Gartner also said that IT workers need to add non-technical skills to their CVs to operate efficiently in today's business environment. This holds true for all levels of the industry.
"What constitutes 'qualified people' will change," said Diane Morello, vice president and Gartner Fellow.
"The intersection of business models and IT requires people with varied experience, professional versatility, multidiscipline knowledge and technology understanding. A hybrid professional, in other words."
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Gartner warns of IT skills shortage
Hello, I am sorry to be critical of what Gartner are saying but I have faced quite different problem with skills. The problems that I have seen are: - I have tried to keep myself technically current by doing courses such as a M.Sc. in Software Engineering, a Comp-TIA A+ and N+, a Cisco CCNA and a Business Studies degree, but when I go to interviews and appraisals, I get told that I am not suitable because "I would not be (or am not) happy in the job because I am over-qualified" or "Perhaps you would be looking for something else to use your skills". I am not sure if I am over-skilled or is that the managers I would be working for would feel threatened by a better skilled junior? - Some Companies will not train evenly across their workforce. Those that get most of the training then tend to leave for better paid jobs, those that get less of the training either leave through demotivation or stay and do a worse job through demotivation. As a result, companies spend less on training. - Some companies do not train, but "wave money at and steal" suitably qualified staff from other companies, who in turn spend less on training. - Some companies set up elsewhere in lower wage economies and lose the trained staff that they have here in the UK. Again, skilled staff are lost. If there is such a huge skills gap, why are these skilled staff being left unemployed for anything up to 5 years? Yes, I have seen trained staff who are better trained than myself doing house renovations, box filling, shelf filling and voluntary work whilst desperately trying to get themselves back into a job. I am sorry to be negative, but if Gartner's claims are true (and I am very doubtful) then companies have to: - Be flexible about who they take on (background-wise) - Start looking at training all of their staff and new recruits to be flexible and move them into varying roles as the needs of their industries change. - Train staff evenly so that if one person does leave, there are others to replace them, rather a demotivated residue who are angry about others having benefitted from "favouritism" to others. Thank You Colin
Posted by: Colin Shayler 09 Feb 2008