There is still an IT skills shortage in Africa, but the shortage is no longer of qualified people, but of qualified people with practical experience of two years or more, says HR director Annelie van Wyk.
"While approximately three years ago there was a shortage of qualified MCSEs in the South African IT job market, there is now an abundance of MCSEs, but a shortage of experienced MCSEs," she reports. "Further to a shortage of MCSEs, with necessary practical experience, the industry also lacks experienced Novell engineers and other software support engineers," adds Van Wyk.
"The reason for this shortage is that the South African IT industry is young and growing extremely fast, with the sector expanding faster than people can be trained and gain relevant practical industry experience," she explains.
In order to cater for the rapid pace of the industry`s expansion it is critical that end-user companies, IT companies, education institutions and the government place an even stronger emphasis on outcomes-based education and training initiatives. Datacentrix Holdings, which owns Datacentrix Infrastructure, Datacentrix Business Solutions, Supported Software (Pty) Ltd and 70% of Commerce Centre, believes it is doing this.
Funds in 2000 for training of existing group staff to higher skills levels have trebled since 1999 and Datacentrix Holdings` commitment to training staff members at management, sales, technical support and administration levels continues to grow. This funding also includes subsidies for the education of children of employees on certain levels.
Furthermore, Datacentrix Infrastructure runs a learner programme whereby students and graduates are appointed at Datacentrix Infrastructure to provide them with a one-year in-service training experience, whereby they are exposed to all angles of the company. In January 2000, students from Technikon Northern Gauteng enrolled in this training programme at Datacentrix Infrastructure, where they are gaining valuable practical experience.
"Learner programmes are an important way in which companies can increase the pool of experienced qualified IT resources in the IT industry and more IT companies should invest in similar programmes to give qualified people the opportunity to gain practical experience," suggests Van Wyk.
In addition, Datacentrix Holdings established a R1-million education trust, earlier this year, to provide on-going professional and vocational training to students from disadvantaged groups. At the moment, the trust is financing the studies of 15 IT, B Comm Marketing and Business Management students at the University of Pretoria. Datacentrix is building relationships with these students and will provide them with employment opportunities upon graduation.
Over and above initiatives by IT companies, Van Wyk is optimistic that the Skills Development Act, which came into effect on April 1, will also assist in IT skills development. In terms of the Act, companies will have to pay their Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) a levy of 0,5% of their total wage bill for skills development. Companies that implement workplace skills plans and train their staff will be reimbursed by means of a grant of at least 50% of contributions in the first year. "Although the recent legislative initiative encourages companies to invest in their human resources through education and training and should, therefore, increase the level of appropriate skills in the IT industry, successful companies should already be investing heavily in education and training," she stresses. The recent legislation and the corresponding National Qualifications Framework (NQF) are also expected to strive to align skills supplied to industry with the qualifications and training levels required by business. "At the moment, in the IT industry, this is desperately needed, and to grow the human resource pool of experienced qualified IT professionals, it is important that more traditional courses and curriculums offered by education institutions be adjusted to the new economy," says Van Wyk. "If curriculums become more outcomes-based, with regard to IT, the IT industry should see an improvement in the level of required practical skills in the sector," she predicts. Van Wyk points out that this does not only involve an emphasis on practical outcomes and industry needs at a tertiary level, but also requires primary and secondary school curriculums to better promote computer literacy in all areas of education. "This will form a basis for the development of IT expertise at a high-level," she explains.
"The IT skills shortage in South Africa can be ameliorated and the development of the skills base can develop to meet the requirements of an emerging industry, but this will require an even stronger commitment from companies within the sector, as well as greater collaboration between industry, education institutions and government," concludes Van Wyk.
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