CompTIA chief: Tech industry is still not attractive enough to new talent

Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA, states that the tech industry is fifth on the list of desirable careers for the next generation of talent

The IT industry needs to wake up to the fact that tech is not a desirable enough career destination for the next generation of talent and people looking for new career opportunities.

In fact, the industry is only the fifth most desirable career globally, coming in behind sales, hospitality, healthcare and general business roles.

That was the claim from CompTIA's CEO Todd Thibodeaux, speaking at the organisation's 2022 EMEA Member and Partner Conference in London this week.

According to CompTIA's estimates there are currently 10m working age people out there looking for new job opportunities.

But they are not being attracted to the tech industry enough. In addition, the tech industry also has the biggest confidence gap of any other industry, with people believing a tech career takes longer to train for, is harder to understand because of the complexity involved, and is more expensive than other more desirable careers.

This perception is also filtering down to students, because parents are believing that if their children are not skilled in maths and science, then they will be unable to pursue a career in tech. So despite all the STEM efforts happening across the globe, it is not having the desired effect.

"Our industry has taken a lot of heat recently," Thibodeaux said. "The ‘bro' culture in Silicon Valley, the perceived cost of training, and a perceived lack of progression in roles. We have a lot of perceptions to overcome and our industry needs to fight more for talent.

"We need to tell better stories about how great it is to work in our industry," he said.

"It is not just about making it cool - its about making kids understand that this is something they can do."

He added that it is unhelpful to just pursue people that are already working in the industry.

Companies need to cast their nets wider for people that perhaps don't have the exact set of skills or background they need, but who are willing to learn, he said, which also helps attract a wider and more diverse set of candidates.

CompTIA Project Agora

To help tackle this issue, CompTIA is launching Project Agora which will focus on 30 key roles it has identified in the tech industry -for example data scientists, network engineers, cybersecurity specialist plus many more.

The organisation will work with its members to build profiles on each of the 30 roles, offer training and support to new candidates, and will be encouraging its members to get involved in guest lecturing and educating candidates about why the industry is such a great place to work.

"Project Agora is about unlocking potential for both the industry and for millions of people who want and need to be working in it," Thibodeaux said.

"We have to do something different if we are going to attract people in."