Plugging the IT skills gap
MTI's Ian Parslow asks what the UK government, schools and businesses can do to help plug the deficit in IT skills
The IT industry is fundamental to the continued growth of the UK economy. However, recent estimates signify that £2bn a year is being lost due to unfilled roles in the sector.
According to data from Experian, IT industry vacancies in the UK have risen to 134,000 a year. Two in five companies are struggling to fill positions, with 85 per cent blaming the skills shortage for their difficulty in finding the right staff.
On top of this, a KPMG/Markit Tech Monitor UK survey for the last quarter of 2014 revealed performance as well as job creation in the UK IT industry outstripped the rest of the economy significantly.
This has led many UK companies to look for employees abroad, in talent-rich economies such as India and China. So how can we foster this talent in the UK?
Technical skills in areas such as security, business intelligence and data analytics are lacking in the UK. In recent years, STEM subjects have seen a considerable decline in uptake and post-study career progression. There are various reasons for this decline and some even lie with the state of the current tuition fee system. However, the impact on the IT industry is undeniable.
There are some encouraging signs from the recent A-level results; uptake of computing as a subject was up by 30 per cent from the previous year. However, the figure is not set to match the 900,000 vacancies we will need to fill by 2020.
Subjects such as computing and mathematics should be promoted more within schools and universities. The curriculum should have elements of computing embedded into it. Skills such as coding and writing script should be as commonplace in our schools as other core subjects. This is how we will introduce basic IT knowledge to our young people and develop their technical skills throughout their formal education and formative years.
The government is looking increasingly to apprentices to fill this talent shortage. The second budget of 2015 saw a pledge from the government to introduce apprenticeship levies. This is a great way to introduce young people to the IT industry. However, we require more support if we are to fill the skills gap.
This flow of talent is imperative. Without access to a constantly topped-up pool of talent, business growth will stall. The wider impact on the UK economy would be disastrous; the optimism that the UK has experienced in the past couple of years would be undone.
Together, the UK government, educational institutions and businesses have a shared responsibility to acquire and retain a new wave of IT talent. This will not only ensure the UK continues on its path to economic recovery, but also allow the industry to flourish on a global scale.
Ian Parslow is senior vice president at MTI Technology