IT Essentials: The haunting gap

The state of UK tech is spookier than any ghoul or goblin

Banishing the spectre of unfilled tech jobs will take a multi-pronged approach.

In the same week we celebrated/tolerated Halloween, a new report found that there are more than 73,000 unfilled tech jobs in the UK: a scarier statistic than any witch, werewolf or warlock.

The technology skills gap is now at its highest level ever, despite awareness of the problem dating back more than a decade. Various boogeymen have been suggested as a reason: the economy, Brexit, brain drain, a poor education pipeline, undervaluing soft skills, lack of inclusivity - the list goes on.

The UK is far from the only country grappling with this issue; it's prevalent across Europe, North America and Asia, so importing workers - while some help - is not a panacea to the problem. Rather, closing the skills gap requires a multifaceted approach.

The education pipeline is just one piece of the puzzle, but the first one most people think about. Promoting STEM careers in schools, as well as supporting businesses running tech apprenticeships, encourages young people to engage with the subject from a young age.

Sadly, there is still a massive digital divide between those pupils whose parents can afford a private education and those left to the rigours of the state system. While one of these groups sits down to learn programming languages purpose-built for children, like Scratch, the other might get as little as one hour of computing education a week - or none.

Teachers are doing their best, but too often they simply don't have the skills to engage meaningfully with the subject. Few have ever worked in the sector, and too often IT teachers are simply people who have a vague interest in technology and take it on in addition to their regular role.

At this week's Women in Tech Festival, one delegate said her children were learning computing from a full-time PE teacher; another told of an educator who was staying "one page ahead of the class" in their textbook.

The natural outcome is that tech will become even more homogenous, not less. Much like the modern political sector, people from a fee-paying background will be grossly over-represented compared to the general population.

This is not to disparage private education - outstanding people have come up through the system - but diversity of thought is important. Without it you get situations like the Apple Health app, which couldn't be used to track a woman's menstrual cycle when it was launched in 2014.

We could see similar effects if this state continues. Could a team of mostly privately educated individuals really understand how to build a benefits system for the DWP, or comprehend the intricacies and requirements of the NHS? Or, to bring it full circle, how about building EdTech solutions for students from a range of socio-economic backgrounds?

With the shadows of the skills gap looming large this autumn, a multi-front solution is needed to banish this particular spectre.