10 Aug 2007
The IT skills shortage problem is much less acute than often reported, although many graduates are still leaving university without enough real-world work experience, according to the director of IBM's Hursley labs, Graham Spittle.
Spittle told attendees at a special press gathering at the labs that the firm works closely with around twelve universities, supplying visiting professors and contributing to curricula, and so has little problem finding high quality graduates.
But he cautioned that many new recruits arrive lacking certain skills because they have not been able during their courses to work on large-scale projects.
"When they come out they see the scalability challenges and network problems … these are the things you want to cut your teeth on," argued Spittle. "But despite what we read in the papers I still find it fairly simple to get high quality graduates."
Nick Wells of IT training specialist The Training Camp agreed, explaining that many students believe that merely by getting a degree they immediately will have all the pre-requisite skills necessary to succeed in the workplace.
"Employers don't want a piece of paper, they want real experience," he added. "We've had to manage the expectations of our students – they think if they get a degree they will get their dream job."
Another problem is that most employers don't value computer hobbyists who have done lots of work with computers in their free time. These people often have lots of practical skills in servicing computers, designing websites, and working on open source software projects. They are also more resourceful and better at looking outside the box than most people who just gain their knowledge about computers through institutionalised education. A high proportion of employers only want people who have gained their skills and experiences in a commercial environment.
A friend of mine decided to teach himself website design and ended up developing websites for two local organisations as voluntary work. In a job interview at an IT company, the interviewer asked him "did you do this in a commercial environment?". Self education and voluntary work meant nothing to this interviewer because he banged on about the importance of corporate bureaucracy such as managing deadlines and budgets. Consequently my friend did not get the job and the company re-advertised it.
Posted by: RS 26 Aug 2007
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