There is no shortage of core IT skills, there is a shortage of people willing to pay for them.
Auditing, project mgt, are overwhelmingly financed, while IT skills, or any operational skill for that matter, are considered to be of little value and are paid three time less than the previous ones. No wonder a guy with 10 years of experience on a core IT skill would rather do some word/power point/ms project for three time the net income, rather than being underpaid at what he excels...
IT faces 'dire shortage' of core skills, study
Summary
The skills needed to modernize core IT assets are in short supply, according to latest report from the application-management company
Topics
The lack of core IT skills is a major impediment to modernizing key IT assets, according to a survey by application-management company Micro Focus.
According to the study, published on Monday, there is a shortage of IT skills across Europe and the US, even though such skills are core assets needed during a recession.
Part of the problem is that businesses are now focusing on newer areas such as Web 2.0, without realizing that the skills to support core infrastructure are lacking, Micro Focus chief executive Stephen Kelly told ZDNet UK. "In this survey, we are not devaluing Web 2.0," he said. "The problem is that newer technologies cannot succeed unless they are supported by the core infrastructure."
While some 60 percent of those surveyed said that core systems and databases are business-critical, 56 percent confirmed that newer, web-based technologies are the skills currently being recruited for the most. The survey, conducted with the Insead business school, was carried out among 450 chief financial officers, chief information officers and human-resources directors in France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US, in companies with revenue from $100m (£67m) to over $1bn.
Some 60 percent of chief financial officers surveyed said skills to modernize core IT assets are the most valuable in a recession, indicating that an economic downturn demands that companies focus on core systems. However, less than a third of chief information officers (29 percent) said they are recruiting enough core IT asset specialists, while 47 percent said they are not, and 24 percent said they did not know.
Less than a quarter of chief information officers (16 percent) said they have any confidence that they are using the right recruitment strategies for the vital skills and knowledge required.
This is the second year that Micro Focus, a Newbury-based supplier of data-management and modernization tools and known as a backer of Cobol, has run the survey.
According to Kelly, this year's results show little change. "Last year, we highlighted that IT was the forgotten corporate asset but, this year, the survey really shows that the shortage of people with the rights skills for work on key areas like IT infrastructure is even more pressing," he said. "Across Europe and even in the US, we are facing a dire shortage."
Talkback Most Recent of 11 Talkback(s)
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s_souche2nd Dec 2008 -
MS BS
Capitalism eating itself. The snake feeding off its own tail.
Progress cannot be far away ...
fr0thy22nd Dec 2008 -
RE: IT faces 'dire shortage' of core skills, study
Dont you love the blinkered ? Your statement is correct as is the article , but this doesn't make the article BS. No one trains for an underpaid job , hence no resource. I know I have tried to get it and its as rare as rocking horse dung.
plug_it_in2nd Dec 2008 -
I say we outsource executive talent to China
Then, you'llhave to agree that the US has a dire shortage of business executives with core business skills.
Afterall, we can hire a CEO and VP's in China at 15% cost of a US MBA graduate.
And, nobody trains for an underpaid job. hence, no domestic resource.
dumb logic
startx.jeff2nd Dec 2008 -
what shortage?
I doubt that there is any 'shortage' of any skills while we are in a recession.
This 'study' is merely an excuse to offshore more jobs.
Linux Geek2nd Dec 2008 -
Sure thing Web Designer....
The point of the article is... everyone is focusing on how to make information to look pretty and no one is focusing on how to organize the data into information.
In case you haven't been paying attention, this is the same argument that aging and now retiring green screeners have been using for decades. Little Johnny and his PC don't know how in the hell to submit a batch job on the ole 400. I am as guilty as many others, the only difference is, I actually did that. Have you?
nucrash2nd Dec 2008 -
What core skills?
Much depends on what is meant by "core skills". If you mean the ability to maintain and manage databases, servers, internal networks and client workstations, it may be so. These skills have been under appreciated and under paid for some time now. Naturally skilled people will migrate away from them to higher paying areas. The people with those skills are still out there. They need only be offered reasonable pay to return to those jobs.
Sagax-2nd Dec 2008 -
RE: IT faces 'dire shortage' of core skills, study
There's no such thing as a shortage. Only an incorrect price (or, in this case, an incorrect salary level).
As somebody said: "When employers say that there's a worker shortage, what they really mean is they can't get enough workers at the price they want to pay".
Not the same thing at all.
LordLiverpool2nd Dec 2008 -
I disagree
I work for a company that has brought in several over the last few years, and all of the above have had 0 experience with mainframe systems. Very little to do with database design, and even less with coding an application that doesn't run on an x86.nucrash2nd Dec 2008 -
RE: IT faces 'dire shortage' of core skills, study
I don't belive there is a massive shortage at the moment although I do perhaps in the future. When I graduated there were only 10 people on the Computing course but there were more than 100 people studying music technology and media. My girlfriend was one of them and now can't get a job.
I think the existing people out there can learn the technologies if the companies will allow time for them to learn them. If you are a programmer / developer you are always expected to learn everything new in your own time.
domfinn3rd Dec 2008 -
RE: IT faces 'dire shortage' of core skills, study
Interesting that the problem dates from when the name changed from Computer Services to IT. In the old days, a computer tech would show up in your office and talk to you, finding out what you NEEDED to do and where computers could help. Now, IT folk issue memos, forcing people to conform to their demands. No wonder IT has a bad rep. Change the name back (and the attitude) while you still have time!
tburzio3rd Dec 2008
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