CA shines a light on mainframe skills shortage

Software giant claims more needs to be done to counter the mainframe talent shortage

Software giant CA Technologies has become the latest vendor to warn that the IT industry is on the brink of a mainframe skills shortage.

The firm claims that not enough is being done to replace IT workers with mainframe skills when they retire from the workforce.

Colin Bannister, chief technology officer at CA, said the issue is often overlooked, as many IT skills gap studies focus on other areas of technology.

"A lot of people associate the IT skills gap with skills such as programming, security or server maintenance, but many IT executives are increasingly worried about the skills offered by those entering the mainframe workforce," Bannister told ChannelWeb.

"Walk into any mainframe shop and you will see the same people who worked on them 30 years ago."

He said CA has been trying to fill the talent gap with the rollout of its Mainframe Academy initiative, which provides students with non-vendor-specific training.

"The training programme is based on real-world project work, with each phase building a discrete set of skills and exposing students to key mainframe topics, concepts and terms," said Bannister.

"[It] is not affiliated with any university curriculum, it is [not] hardware-focused or vendor-driven, meaning the skills students learn are all highly transferable to any reseller, vendor or end-user environment."

The risk of a mainframe skills shortage was flagged up earlier this month in a study commissioned by application monitoring software vendor Compuware.

The research, compiled by market watcher Vanson Bourne, focused on the use of mainframe systems in the enterprise and featured contributions from 500 chief information officers from across the globe. A fifth of those questioned came from the UK.

According to its findings, 69 per cent of respondents said the mainframe environment was proving a turn-off for IT graduates, while 46 per cent admitted they had no plan in place to address mainframe developer shortages.

Kris Manery, senior vice president and general manager for the mainframe solutions unit at Compuware, blamed the problem on a lack of innovation in mainframe environments.

"IT efficiency is about making better use of what you already have, so any moves to update the mainframe environment must happen with a minimal investment of time and cost," he said.

"Developers across the board, whether they are experienced or new to the mainframe, need choice and flexibility to use the tools and techniques that will empower them to improve productivity," he added.