Johannesburg, 18 Jul 2019
Wits University's Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE), in partnership with the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA), are calling on ICT employers and practitioners to participate in a survey of skills trends in the South African ICT sector.
The 10th edition of the survey aims to gain a clear understanding of the ICT skills landscape in SA by identifying current skills priorities and gaps in the sector to assist business leaders and policy makers to develop strategies for growing and retaining digital skills.
“Companies frequently highlight the scarcity of ICT skills as a major concern and business risk,” says Professor Barry Dwolatzky, director of the JCSE. “Any strategy, either within a company or within the country, needs to be based on accurate data. Our skills survey provides such data and should be a very useful resource to anyone thinking about ICT skills in relation to strategic intention.”
“The availability of appropriate skills is a critical factor in the development and growth of the ICT sector,” says Tony Parry, CEO of IITPSA. “Therefore, we believe it is important to carry out regular assessments of the skills landscape, to help us shape future public and private sector skills development and education programmes. The JCSE-IITPSA Skills Survey in 2018 delivered valuable insights into South African ICT skills supply and demand, and we look forward to the outcome of the 2019 research.”
The 2019 survey invites all ICT employers and professionals to participate, irrespective of position and including practitioners who obtained their skills formally or on the job, or who work from home or in a corporate environment.
The following two sets of survey questionnaires can be found on the Survey Centre website: a corporate survey for organisations that employ ICT professionals, and an individual survey for ICT professionals. All information provided is held confidentially and is only used for the purposes of the research survey.
“Over the past decade, we’ve seen very clear shifts in the demand for skills keep pace with changing trends in the ICT sector. We’ve also seen that South African ICT professionals are far more multiskilled than their counterparts in other countries,” says Dwolatzky.
Last year’s edition of the JCSE-IITPSA Skills Survey revealed the need for more investment in teaching and training, and the urgent need to move plans from discussion to execution, despite unfavourable economic conditions.
“A question introduced in both surveys this year relates to how corporates and individuals feel about ICT jobs and skills of the future, and where the emerging fourth industrial revolution is having the biggest effect,” adds Dwolatzky.
“This year, we expect that there will be specific skills that are in very short supply. I also hope to see both corporates and individuals take a more long-term view and think strategically about new skills and reskilling existing staff.”
The cut-off date for responses to the ICT Skills Survey is 7 August 2019.
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