ICT SKILLS issues look set to continue, as the authorities worry about the low maths and science matric pass rate, which will lead to a shortage of graduates in the ICT field.
 |
HAROLD WESSO |
|
Meanwhile, the recession has resulted in a decrease in the number of ICT professionals being employed in SA, with 23% of businesses surveyed saying they had reduced staff counts in the past year. This emerged in the latest annual ITWeb/JCSE IT Skills Survey, which was released at the end of last year. Industry players say that while the recession is largely to blame, another key trend in the IT skills arena is that university graduates are emerging into the job market lacking key skills needed by companies.
At a recent round table discussion on the results of the survey, key players said there was a disconnect between academia and business.
The round table consisted of: Harold Wesso, acting CEO of Meraka e-Skills Institute; Oupa Mopaki, CEO of ISETT SETA; Janette Cumming, director of Paracon Holdings; Barry Dwolatzky, professor of software engineering at Wits University; Peter Scheffel, executive for Barone, Budge and Dominick; Alison le Roux, executive head of talent acquisition at Vodacom; Sean McLean, university relations manager at IBM; and Inno Masilela, training manager at Tactical Software Services. The round table was chaired by Adrian Schofield, manager of the applied research unit at the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering.
THE STUDY
The process this year was the same as last, with a questionnaire developed by the JCSE, and the survey released online on ITWeb.
The study was divided into two parts: corporate responses and practitioner responses. From the corporate executives, 157 valid responses were collected - 37% more than the 2008 survey. Two-thirds of the respondents were from Gauteng, but all nine provinces were represented. "Predictably, most of [the respondents] are in Gauteng, that's where most of the IT business is pursued," says Schofield. C-level executives and directors were 45% of the respondents, and managers were 25%.
The majority (61%) were from privately-owned non-listed companies and 18% were from listed companies. Most (57%) operated in the IT sector. Half the companies have less than 50 employees, 20% have between 50 and 250. Forty percent of respondents employ less than 10 people for IT functions internally.
PRIORITIES
In 2009, the top six ICT priorities for companies were business intelligence/knowledge management (BI/KM), application development, software as a service, service-oriented architecture and mobile computing.
 |
OUPA MOPAKI |
|
This year, application development is the top priority, with network infrastructure in second place, BI/KM in third and CRM, information security and operating system rounding out the top six.
In his report of the study, Schofield says "the emphasis of network infrastructure in 2009 reflects the growing realisation that effective broadband access is essential if the benefits of many of the other areas of development are to be felt".
WORKFORCE
In last year's survey, one-third of corporate respondents reported there would be no change in staff numbers for the coming year and the majority predicted an increase of between 10% and 50%. Very few predicted lower numbers, explains Schofield.
Given the recession, however, there has been an increase in the reporting of lower staff numbers. The number of companies showing no change remained at the one-third mark, but 23% said they had to reduce staff in 2009 and 10% predicted this to continue into 2010.
Of all sizes of companies, 43% reported growing last year and 58% expected that to continue. Companies with fewer than 50 employees are predicting the most growth (40%) and the overall average growth rate is 30%. However, there is an indication of some companies reducing staff, says Schofield. "Those who reported having lowered the complement last year indicated that reductions were in the order of 20%, improving slightly to 14% in the year ahead."
The predicted skills gap for 2010 is estimated to be 20%. Comparing this survey to last year's, there has been little change in the retention policies. The two main approaches are still help with professional development and performance bonuses. Small companies tend to use flexible schedules more than others, and the least often used policy is equity sharing.
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
In small companies, C-level executives are responsible for training and in medium to large enterprises, the task is often the responsibility of the line managers.
There has been a decrease in the number of companies likely to recruit skills from overseas, (2008 - 19% vs 2009 - 10%). However, there is very little distinction between the types of qualifications wanted, although graduate degrees are slightly more in demand, says Schofield. The qualifications do need to be internationally comparable, however.
In 2008, the skills most needed were process management, BI/KM, business analysis and systems analysis.
 |
BARRY DWOLATZKY |
|
The most highly lacking skills for the latest survey were BI/KM, testing, project management and system design/architecture. Process management skills increased, with the need for the skills going down from 70% to 30%. However, many skills are still in strong demand from year to year, with the most desirable programming languages in 2009 being Java, C# and VB. The lowest demand is still 25% (for implementation/support).
Respondents were also asked about whether they believed skilled practitioners were harder to find, and whether hiring policies had changed with the recession. Three quarters of respondents said the skills shortage was still a problem. Interestingly, there was a balance between the number of respondents who said more skilled people were available now and those who said less were available. Most respondents did not change their hiring policy with the recession, but 40% said they had.
PRACTITIONER SAMPLE
For the practitioner sample, 1 471 valid responses were collected, an increase on 2008's 965. Two-thirds of respondents have tertiary qualifications and the majority (70%) are living in Gauteng, but all provinces are represented. Women made up 21% of respondents.
The majority of respondents also worked for their current employer for between one and five years. In 2008, 22% of respondents had only been with their employers for less than a year. In 2009, that dropped to 17%. In 2008, 57% of respondents worked in the ICT sector, in 2009 that grew to 60%.
In 2009, 35% of respondents reportedly work in hardware and infrastructure and 46% with software applications. Schofield also noted there is an almost even split between those in the PC environment and those in the server environment.
C-level executives or directors are 5% of the sample, 10% are managing operations or development, 5% are project managers, 15% are in programming or development roles and 15% are in support.
In the previous year's survey, it was found that very few respondents were responsible for only one role in the company, with the average respondent being engaged in five activities. For technical staff, this has increased to 5.7, while people engaged in business roles do 3.6 activities.
SKILLS ACQUISITION
 |
ADRIAN SCHOFIELD |
|
A large majority (86%) of respondents said they acquired the skills they use in their current job with on-the-job training and mentoring. Certified short courses and vendor certifications accounted for 42% each.
CORPORATE DISCONNECT
In the round table discussion, the main issue was reconciling skills learned at university with job-readiness. "[There is a] relative lack of interaction between industry and academia," said Schofield, explaining why skills needs and tertiary institutions are often out of sync.
Wesso said with this training disconnect, a situation arose where "we end up with the educated person who can't work and the worker who can't think".
Scheffel said another problem facing graduates was not just that companies wanted only experienced employees, but also that many students also have bad debt from their study loans, further lowering the chances of a job. Mopaki said a transition phase was needed between university and employment to get graduates work-ready, along the lines of graduate internships. "Universities are not training the type of skills we need," he said.
Dwolatzky explained, however, that "mini-interventions" were already in place. Cumming was of the opinion that if companies were forced to take on graduates, the skills gap would be closed within five years.
Le Roux reiterated that businesses and universities need to work together more closely on skills issues. "What is needed and what is produced need to be aligned," he said.
As for the survey itself, Scheffel suggested breaking the survey down further into regional data. "Since there were reported shortages and surpluses, perhaps skills needs and resources are distributed unevenly," he said.
MARTIN CZERNOWALOW
![[West and Central Africa Com]](/images/bnrWCA_120x120.gif "West and Central Africa Com")