By Joaquim P. Menezes -
• There's a really hot IT careers market out there that - for some reason - Canadians are choosing to stay away from in droves.
• It's absolutely vital that industry, academia and government exert themselves separately and jointly to address the IT skills crunch quickly, intelligently, and decisively.
These two statements represent key messages that emerged from a panel discussion I attended yesterday on IT careers that was organized by Cisco Canada to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Cisco Network Academy.
The Academy is an e-learning program launched globally by Cisco to equip students with Internet technology skills required in the job market.
I found it interesting that the single Academy ex-student spokesperson on the panel – Kayla Savard – noted that she represented "the dropouts."
"Let's face it. I'm pursuing higher education in another area," said Savard. "I wasn't attracted to the [IT] market after I received my education."
A refreshingly candid admission, and I must say I was impressed that Cisco Canada included her on the panel, although she wasn't the typical poster child for the Academy, and its mandate.
Of course, Savard said she was sure her current employer recognized the skills she acquired during her time at the Academy, even though they aren't the ones she's using in her current job.
Savard's own experience reinforced one of the key messages we heard from all the high profile panelists at the Cisco event: that declining enrolment in IT-related courses seems to be a pervasive problem today.
Another panelist, Paul Swinwood, president of the Information and Communications Technology Council, cited research findings to substantiate this.
"We believe that there is a significant problem," said Swinwood.
He said his organization has witnessed anything between a 30 and a 70 per cent drop in enrolments in computer science, computer engineering, information technology at Canadian colleges and universities.
"So if the perfect storm is on its way, and Canada is going to be looking at productivity improvements through IT…"
Swinwood left this comment unfinished, perhaps to signify that there aren't any easy answers to this problem.
But easy or not, answers must be found, and quickly.
Fewer people are entering the IT workforce at a time when more are desperately needed.
The clamour for skilled IT professionals is only growing.
Around 61 per cent of hiring managers are set to increase their IT staff over the coming 12 months, noted John Pickett, IT World Canada's editorial director, who moderated the panel. "
And those doing the hiring expect to increase their staff by about 21 per cent.
Pickett was presenting the findings of IT World's 2007 Salary Survey. In terms of absolute numbers he said, around 48,000 people are required in the industry.
Some of these positions, admittedly, will be filled internally through training and inter-departmental transfers, or by recruits from collegs/universities or IT training programs - such as those offered by the Cisco Networking Academy.
But, Salary Survey findings indicate that most new IT employees (around 67 per cent or 20,000 people) will be hired away from other firms.
So that's definitely an issue that employers should be concerned about.
What about IT professionals? Well, let's face it -- from the looks of it, IT is certainly the place to be today if you're so inclined.
It's taking a while for that message to get out though.
You can readabout John Pickett's presentation and the panel dicussion that ensued in greater detail in the following articles:
Sizzling IT careers market still evokes lukewarm response
Industry emphasizes profiling lucrative IT career