The IT industry has systematically created the conditions that foster SA's skills crisis, said Gartner research VP and fellow Mark Raskino, in his presentation at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2008, in Cape Town.
According to Raskino, young people looking to enter the industry are put off by the transience and variability of the industry. He noted that students believe IT is an uncertain career choice and they will often decide to follow another career path.
The reason is that many IT professionals over the age of 40 are not able to find a job, he commented. "The IT industry has become ageist." He added that young people don't want to be redundant in 20 years' time, unless they have had an extremely lucrative career and can afford to retire then.
Adding to this is that the IT industry is quickly losing credibility with potential young employees, stated Raskino. He pointed to the trend of IT companies poaching talent from competitors. "What you think is a sneaky and smart move, they see as a lack of credibility. Your actions are also far more transparent than you think."
All of this generates an uncertain future for the prospective IT workforce companies hope to employ.
While it is a large and complex problem, the skills crisis does need to be tackled, but it also needs to be free of traditional mindsets and mechanisms, he explained.
Plan for staff
"Your first recourse is to make sure that HR best practice solutions are being implemented." Raskino pointed out that the skills shortage affects many other aspects of business.
Generational issues will also play a large role in whether companies can attract and retain skills in SA, he added. He noted implications such as the way different generations prefer to communicate and the kind of workplace they would choose.
He also pointed to the way companies recruit: "There are chronic mismatches between the way we are advertising positions and the way potential employees are looking for jobs. In some cases, they won't even find the jobs being posted."
Creating a mission for the IT department is one of the critical aspects of attracting skills. "Most IT departments have no mission or vision. This is not good enough and completely unprofessional. How can people join a business if they have no idea what the plan for that business is?"
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