Subscribe

ICT Skills Survey kicks off

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 13 Jun 2014
Adrian Schofield, manager of the JCSE's Applied Research Unit, says participants of the ICT Skills Survey will contribute to closing SA's skills gap.
Adrian Schofield, manager of the JCSE's Applied Research Unit, says participants of the ICT Skills Survey will contribute to closing SA's skills gap.

There is no shortage of discouraging news when it comes to the state of ICT skills in SA, but industry players remain resolute in their quest to close the skills gap - an expedition that begins with analysis and understanding of the market.

To this end, the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) - a University of Witwatersrand partnership with government and industry - in conjunction with ITWeb and with the support of the Institute of Information Technology Professionals SA, the Information Technology Association and Eduflex's Virtual Assessor survey application, has kicked off its sixth annual ICT Skills Survey.

Adrian Schofield, manager of the JCSE's Applied Research Unit, says the survey attempts to close the skills gap, although it still needs greater support from government and the industry to be a more valuable addition to the country's knowledge base. "We not only carry out a comprehensive online survey of employers and practitioners, but we also review the critical skills needs across all sectors, as identified in the Sector Skills Plans."

Schofield says the JCSE's 2012/3 survey showed the demand for skills is at the level reported in 2011 - at around the 10%-15% of total employees. "The rate that vacancies were being filled was much lower. This was estimated at 6%, based on Media ICT Sector Education and Training Authority data, due to a combination of factors, with availability of suitable candidates and budget for hiring being at the forefront."

The priority skills, he says, were in the fields of software as a service/cloud computing, network infrastructure, information security and application development. "The top programming languages were .NET, C#, C++, Java and VB."

Participation call

Schofield calls on industry players to participate in the survey and contribute to helping policy- and decision-makers who are working to close the skills gap in SA.

"Whether you are a practitioner of ICT skills (which covers the whole range of activities in electronic media, information and communications technologies, and electronics from the most junior to the most senior) or an employer of any of those skills (in any sector of the economy, including business, government and civil society), please go to http://ow.ly/c89Id and answer one (or both, if it is appropriate) of the two surveys."

The 2014 ICT Skills Survey will seek to provide an accurate picture of the current situation in SA, and will use the accumulated data to identify and analyse the trends in the market.

CEOs, CIOs and HR managers concerned with recruiting and retaining ICT skills in any public or private sector are encouraged to complete the survey. "We also need current and aspiring practitioners at all levels to tell us how they have acquired their current skills and their plans to improve their talents in the future."

Schofield says the JCSE hopes to publish the new report in October.

Copies of previous reports and further information are available on application to research@jcse.org.za.

Share