Johannesburg, 06 Apr 2004
Basic computer knowledge is not enough for a career in IT. Programmers need to keep pace with newer technologies by upgrading their expertise via short-term courses, says Marinus Van Sandwyk, chairman of LUSO Computer Institute.
A major difficulty in the IT industry is that people specialising in programming have expertise in only a particular area, or believe they have it. Quite often they happened to programming, programming didn`t happen to them, so they lack formal discipline in programming. They may have learned a particular language, such as Basic or Visual Basic, and entered the programming field that way.
These people have been plodding along: they may have become quite good in a particular programming environment, but they are poor in the art of programming. Perhaps they get away with exploiting the capabilities of a particular environment, as the processor will hide some of the inefficiencies they have encoded. Historically, if code designs were inefficient, it would immediately show up in the programme, as it would simply not perform. Now, with CPU cycles being so cheap, all one has to do is throw CPU and memory at the problem and it is solved.
That`s why there is a proliferation of inefficient code running. Although it is poorly designed, it will still function and people will think it is fine. However, it only functions within a given environment. It is costing the company, without management knowing it, an enormous amount of money in terms of unnecessary CPU cycles, memory demand and the maintenance burden. We call it maintaining "spaghetti".
What companies need to do is teach these people the basics of programming. They also then need to put all their programmers through a continuous development programme, where they continually upgrade their skills and learn new languages, design methodologies and user interfaces.
The only way to grow staff is to continually invest in them through workplace-based blended learning, lifelong learning and continuous professional education. Also, it is vital to do a skills assessment of all programmers in every professional development shop. Get the basics right first. Recognition of prior learning is also important. Ask the programmers what they actually want to do: they will usually have identified a weakness in their own skills base that they want to address.
It is important to do this in a positive manner, as some people may think that if they own up to what they can`t do, it may be held against them. They need to be assured that the company is truly interested in growing its employees. The method of assessment chosen depends very much on the culture of the company. If it has a culture of developing staff, self-assessment will work very well. This assessment must be given a positive slant; ask employees in which direction they wish to develop, not where they are weak. The fundamentals must be put in place that allow staff members to learn the basics through self-paced study, where they can write their exams at any point when they are ready, with no negative repercussions. If they fail, they should be allowed to go back and study the pre-requirements and try again.
There should be a formal process to get everyone on the same level, much in line with the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) requirements and standards.
Formal assessments can also be good, but using SAQA resources or an independent organisation like TechChek to test a programmer`s different skills levels, is also recommended. This process highlights strengths and weaknesses. Graduates from the same class, with the same training, will each have different strengths and weaknesses, and individual nuances.
E-learning is good for continuous professional education, as learners don`t have to do a whole course, but just that module where they need more training. Also, today, very few companies can afford to send their staff away for training for long periods of time. E-learning has made it easy for someone to remain at the workplace and spend time focusing on a specific subject, then continue with their normal workload when they are finished.
This training requires the commitment of both the company and the employee. If the employee wants to grow, he will work his study time in during lunch, teatime, or after work. He has to put in some effort in order to learn a new language or technology.
The difficulty for qualified people lies in becoming experienced. Not many companies will employ a qualified person with no experience; that is why it appears there is a skills shortage. We have to identify ways to give qualified people opportunities.
Learnerships are the answer. However, they require a lot of effort on behalf of the company, which would need to appoint a skills development facilitator to manage each learnership. Companies` commitment should not just be from the point of view that they will receive grants from government for putting people into learnerships, but from the fact that they will be contributing to a more stable economy and creating jobs.
The South African programming market is currently experiencing shortages in qualified, object-oriented programmers and designers, and people with true systems design and operating systems level programming experience. There are also too few genuine C++ programmers and people with real C++ applications experience. There is too much focus on end-user application programmers. If the South African IT industry truly wants to compete globally, it must drop a level in terms of where it competes - that is, down to the level of the operating system, where technologies are developed.
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