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Assessing the IT Skills Gap

The veiling boundaries between the physical and the digital world is the fourth industrial revolution. An amalgamation of AI/ ML, Robotics, data analytics, IOTand other emerging technologies have helped organizations garner efficient outcomes across different levels. Therefore, organizations are looking forward to going digital with a streamlined tech-enabled workforce. It has become apparent that there is an immense need for new IT skills. Growth towards a new future can only be possible if workers are self-sufficient in catering to different needs of the industry. However, with the rise in emerging technologies such as AI, Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Data Science, there is a widening gap of the technology skills.

Wallstreet journal emphasizes on the huge gap in IT skills. About 65% of Tech CEOs believe that there is a considerable gap in tech skills (KPMG).  In 2020 there were over 1.4 million computer engineering positions that were to be filled.According to DQ India, there is a  9 percent higher than the global average skills gap in India.

Why is there an increase in the talent gap? What has caused the increase in the gap? And how do we bridge it? These are some of the questions that we are going to answer here.

Let’s look into some of the global talent shortage statistics to gain some deeper insights into the problem we are talking about.

  • Out of a total of 6,07,078 jobs, only 42,969 were filled due to a shortage in computer science graduates (code.org). This says that there is a lack of enough skilled workforce that can fill the talent gap.
  • According to Global Talent Competitiveness Index which describes a country’s   ability to attract talent, India ranks 92nd out of 118 countries.
  • A massive chunk of the workforce needs to be retrained. IBM reports that 120 million workers are to be trained, and over 60% of the CEOs agree that their workforce needs retraining. Computer science graduates form up to only 2.5 percent of the total graduates every year and with 4,00,000 graduates every year as opposed to 1.4 million positions vacant. (code.org)
  • 70% of the cybersecurity professionals point that the growing talent gap in the tech industry is negatively impacting their organization (tech.co)

What are the reasons for the talent gap in the tech industry?

  • Change in the nature of jobs: Due to the rapid emergence of disruptive technologies such as Artificial intelligence, robotics, and other technologies, the very nature of jobs has changed. This has caused an increase in the talent gap. 
  • Need for Reskilling:  There is a need for reskilling in enterprises across the globe due to their lack of skills in congruence with the changing technologies. The World Economic Forum states that by 2022 over 54% of the employees will need reskilling. 
  • Lack of Infrastructure: There are countries across the globe where there is a lack of infrastructure to support the tech industry’s growth needs. This means the inability to provide education. It was reported in a Pew survey that 70% of low-income area schools were unable to provide infrastructure for technical education.
  • Irrelevant Training Programs:The human resources development department in enterprises fail to identify the parameter of technical skills that workers are to be trained on.
  • The Pandemic: The pandemic has transformed workflows across enterprises, making them more streamlined and digital. Due to the fast-paced digital transformation that is taking place, there is a need for a highly-skilled remote workforce that can bolster productivity in an organization..

How do we solve this issue?

There are multiple ways to look at this issue. One way is to fill the organization’s skill gap by hiring new employees. The other way is to reskill them. More organizations are looking forward to reskilling since there is an increased number of employees that lack the technical fundamentals needed to work on a project. A European Commission report shows that over 37% of Information Technology workers lack basic technical skills. 

With the rapid digital transformation that is taking place, it is quite imperative that organizations create a learning culture. One of the few ways they can do so is to encourage employees to upskill themselves through varied DIY courses that are powered with creative study modules and visuals that can help, especially the aging workforce. This means bridging technical skills in domains such as Data Science, Cloud computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and Machine Learning. And Gamification, visualisation, evolved training modules help in better retention and knowledge impartation, too, as the human brain is better at understanding visuals compared to text.

Some of the platforms that can be used to learn these skills are as follows –

CONCLUSION

With the 4thIndustrial revolution that has taken place, evolution of technical workforce in line with it has become thepenultimate goal of organizations. The widening of the tech talent gap can only be shorted with organizations collaborating with employees to create a learning environment with emphasis on reskilling using practical training and knowledge platforms. VM Consultants specialize in identifying the right talent for your organization. Based on an in-depth tech skills gap analysis, they suggest suitable solutions. They seek to assist you combat the immediate issue of shortage in manpower that possesses the technical prowess needed to deliver across your emerging technology projects.

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