IT graduates lack the right skills

Although there are qualified IT graduates in the country, they are not equipped with the necessary practical skills needed in the working environment, IT practitioners told delegates on Friday at the Futurex conference in Sandton.

Danny Naidoo, director of the developer and platform group at Microsoft SA, said SA produces about 5 500 IT graduates a year, but only about 500 vacancies are available annually.

Contrary to recent views expressed by government, Naidoo claimed there is no IT skills shortage in SA. However, he explained, the lack of practical skills prevents IT graduates from being employed immediately.

"We are doing well in terms of the quality of graduates, education policy, internships and skills development policies," said Naidoo. "[But] we need to diversify graduates, create better skilled educators and attract more school learners to the ICT environment."

Torque IT CEO Mthunzi Mdwaba agreed that unemployment among IT graduates is one of the biggest problems facing the country.

"Retraining in the form of further training after graduation is important, as graduates need to get trained in the right areas to perform specific tasks once employed. You might have the knowledge, but not the right skills," he said.

Mdwaba said that, from his experience in the training of IT graduates, he found there are about 40% of graduates who cannot get jobs. He added that organisations such as Torque IT are always looking for ways to help those struggling to get jobs to be channelled to other associates and partners.

Mdwaba also alluded to deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka`s views regarding the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) and its apparent lack of commitment to ICT skills. He said Jipsa is a building block to support the accelerated and shared growth initiative of SA that aims to improve the country`s economic growth.

"Jipsa focuses on maths, science and English, with not much emphasis on ICT. I`m not sure if this was an omission. Nonetheless, you can`t introduce technology only at tertiary level; it should be part of the curriculum from school-level," said Mdwaba.

"In my view, teachers are regarded as scarce and they should be offered further training in ICT. Highly trained adults, who have since retired, should also be brought back to the economy," he said.

Mdwaba stressed that imparting skills should go far beyond offering training.

"The day we also make a serious commitment, as opposed to just talking, we will make things happen. You can bring graduates to the working environment, but nurturing and growing is equally important," he added.