Simon

Cumbria

IT

Nothing will change while businesses remain so short sighted.

IT has become one of those sectors that people tell their kids to avoid - and for good reason.

It appears that business people accept that it's normal to employ junior accountants and put them through part time courses to get their accountancy qualifications as they progress up the ladder - a variation on the old apprentice schemes. When it comes to IT though, it seems they want someone to come with exactly the skills needed, and to magically keep those skills up to date with no help from the business - and of course they expect IT people to work for peanuts.

OK, I know this isn't universal, but I see enough of it to know that (outside of the larger outfits) this is most certainly the case. Certainly, at my last job, there were several accountants in various stages of their qualifications - all getting assistance from the company. When I went along with the opportunity to buy some quality training at a big discount (and the offer to take holidays to cover the time, and pay my own travelling etc costs) I got turned down because I couldn't state that I ABSOLUTELY needed the qualifications to carry on with my job. I know that not one of the accountancy people NEEDED the qualifications for what they were doing - and a fair proportion took then qualification as a ticket out of the place.

It is attitudes like this, up and down the country, where medium sized businesses are now run by the bean counters, that cause much of the alleged skills shortage. They just can't see that people in all fields need to keep up to date. OK, some will take the training and leave, but if all employers put something into the pot, then they'd also gain be being able to emply people trained by someone else.

Can they see this fundamental problem, hell no, they can't put a value on it so it doesn't appear in the bean counting.

And THAT is (to a large extent) why there is supposedly a skills shortage in IT. Not though a lack of people wanting the jobs, not through a lack of available training, but through a lack of investment by the very people who should realise what 'investment' means.

I know plenty of people looking for IT work. Some can't get it because employers seem to want experience (ie they don't want to invest in fresh talent). Some can't get get it because of the rampant agism (we middle aged people are capable of learning, given a little support - ie investment). Some of us struggle because quite frankly we don't want to go to that hell hole of the South East - it appears quite a few business leaders ... well the least said about the vanity of wanting to stay in the SE when there's so much to be had elsewhere.

So, business leaders, GOYA and realise that the reason for the alleged skills shortage is because YOU have lost all sense of how to invest in people. There's plenty of people there IF you are prepared to use your imagination.

If not then we'll carry on leaving the industry and go drive lorries, busses, trains, whatever. And when there really are no IT people left, then you'll only have yourselves to blame - not that you'll have the imagination to realise it. So are you going to keep counting the beans, or go out there and build a business ?