Computer Weekly readers have their say
Employers should train to bridge skills gap
I was hardly surprised to read in your article "Skills fears as
number of IT students plummets" (Computer Weekly, 11 July) that the
number of IT students has halved over the past five years.
If employers within the IT industry are having difficulty
recruiting skilled IT professionals, are they not, to a large
extent, the authors of their own misfortune?
As a mature Open University student due to graduate this year,
it has been my experience that, rather than a shortage of potential
graduates, there is in fact a severe shortage of companies willing
to provide them with the necessary training and mentoring to equip
them with the skills necessary to add value to their business.
Companies seem to have taken the easy option, recruiting people
who already have the specific skillsets they are looking for, from
an ever-diminishing pool of potential employees, and are now
wondering why the supply is starting to dry up in the UK.
Almost every advertisement for a junior or graduate vacancy in
software development seems to insist on one to two years'
commercial development experience, or includes a list of required
skills that a new graduate is unlikely to have.
More rigorous certification will not improve the lot of those
who are seeking to get a foot on the first rung of the software
development career ladder, nor will improving the quality of
university degrees, if employers continue to overlook the graduates
who obtain them in favour of experienced personnel.
Rather than spending millions on a "rolling research programme
to measure the impact of offshoring on UK software development",
may I suggest that, instead, employers invest that money in
training graduates for junior roles, and in developing the skills
of their existing staff so they can be promoted, in turn freeing up
more vacancies for graduates.
Susan Leech
Firms must educate from within to allay skills
fears
The dwindling number of UK IT graduates highlighted in your
article "Skills fears as number of IT students plummets" (Computer
Weekly, 11 July) should act as a wake-up call for companies to
educate their current employees before declaring a skills
shortage.
With about 70% of the world's businesses still running on ageing
legacy Cobol systems, many enterprises rely on older specialists
with the knowledge and experience to run them. It is not surprising
that there has been much speculation about these workers reaching
retirement age and so creating an impending skills crisis.
Companies must act now, and map out their legacy applications
portfolio, identifying the systems and skills they will need in
future. This will allow firms to recruit appropriate staff in
plenty of time.
Combined with initiatives to break down the IT silos that often
exist between mainframes and contemporary systems, firms will be
able to minimise any significant loss of knowledge when older staff
members retire and ensure a smooth transition of IT skills in the
future.
Julian Dobbins, Micro Focus
IT and other industries still plagued by
racism
Ibukun Adebayo's article on racism is accurate and well put
(Computer Weekly, 18 July). Having worked in IT for over eight
years, with the last five as a manager for one of the UK's major IT
employers, I find my experiences match up to the article.
I am constantly being told how promising I am, yet I find that I
am excluded from the type of training that would push me to the
top.
The reasons seem manifold and include a perception (in my
experience, valid in only a few cases) that clients will not
respond favourably to non-white faces.
I too have been complimented on my excellent command of spoken
and written English and praised on many occasions for my ability to
think outside the box. But that is of no avail when new accounts
which offer a pathway to the ranks of the senior-most become
available.
Like Ibukun, I was given English as well as Ghanaian names at
birth and was raised in London from age seven. I am now 45 and
wondering just what I have to do to progress. This problem exists
not just in IT but among all endeavours. Black people are often
thought of as underachievers and this attitude seems to further
disadvantage us in the corporate arena.
Perhaps when fair trade and a recognition that African and other
people are not there simply to provide cheap goods and services for
the developed world, there will be a readiness to employ, promote
and otherwise accept us as equals.
Clearly the fact that Ibukun has attained her present position
is testament that these prejudices are not everywhere all of the
time. However, they exist and are prevalent most of the time.
Bernard Osei
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