Head in the sand

My husband, God bless him, has many wonderful attributes. Unfortunately, addressing problems is not one of them. Like the ostrich, my better half prefers to stick his head in the sand whenever issues arise. After all, he insists, maybe if you ignore it long enough, it will go away on its own.

It's this approach which springs to mind every time the subject of SA's IT skills is raised.

Is it me, or is there a segment of the market that prefers to deny a problem exists? When it comes to dipping the fingers into the corporate kitty, a fair amount of our players choose not to invest in building skills, grabbing at any straws that back up this inclination.

Of course, the IT sector is not the only environment to be inhabited by 'denialists'. What is unfortunate though, is how government has been affirming this approach.

In recent months, the messages emerging from government on the issue of IT skills have been less than reassuring.

To my knowledge, Home Affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has yet to add IT-related job descriptions to the list of skills to benefit from the 35 000 work permits set aside for foreigners.

Labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana has claimed his office has the details of those IT skills that are considered scarce. Given the amount of calls to his office, from ITWeb alone, to access those details, I imagine his staff wishes his claims were true.

The Information Systems, Electronics and Telecommunications Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority took a different approach. It attempted to do a survey to establish the extent of the problem, received little response and thereby concluded the shortage was indeed a myth.

And then the latest on the topic: on the behest of the presidency, the IT Association conducted research which found the country was only short of 2 753 IT professionals as at July. Fortunately, government chose not to present these findings to the Presidential International Advisory Council.

Is it me, or is there a segment of the market that prefers to deny a problem exists?

Kimberly Guest, senior journalist, ITWeb

More sinful, to my mind, is the portion of players who recognise the skills issue exists and yet choose to do nothing about it.

It's money down the drain, they say, as competitors will just come and steal the person once the training is finished. Quick to follow is usually a statement along the lines of "it's easier to hire someone than train them"; essentially, basing their first impressions on their own practices.

Then, of course, there are those who believe government/big business/technology vendors should address the problem as they pay taxes/can't compete financially/are selling their products.

Attending the financial presentations of SA's listed ICT companies demonstrates to me that the industry's slow response to get involved in addressing the skills challenge is hurting the bottom line.

We may not know the exact extent of the skills shortage, but there are a few things we do know: The growth in the cost of IT professionals is far outstripping inflation. An employee's life cycle with a company is shortening dramatically. Loyalty to the employer is effectively dead.

My long-suffering hubby will confirm my frustration with those who defer action. Given a few Irish whiskeys, he may even admit that issues are not resolved on their own.

Most importantly though, he will tell you that "experience" has taught him that if you ignore a problem, the consequences are likely to be exaggerated.

Which goes to show that a little training can produce all kinds of positive outcomes.

(Say woof darling.)