Talk to local IT managers and you will hear rumbles about positions being left unfilled due to a shortage of certain key skills. Malcolm Rabson, managing director at Dariel, answers some questions regarding South Africa's ICT skills shortage and the role of youth development. 

Is there really ICT skills shortage today?

Definitely, there’s a shortage of immediate skills to fill existing positions. Stats show that we currently have approximately 829 800* unfilled positions for high-skilled workers across different sectors in South Africa. This is why we find ourselves outsourcing ICT skills globally to meet current local industry demands. The main contributor to this bottleneck is education which also happens to be the foundation for any career. The education challenge is multifaceted and I’d like to highlight a few challenges:

1.    There is a lack of enthusiasm from school level towards IT related subjects - teachers aren’t making these subjects appealing to students.

2.    There is a lack of qualified technical educators in our school system – this is filtering down to the students as they are not being exposed to the full knowledge which is stifling their learning process and making it difficult for students to exceed in these subjects.

3.    We have also noticed that university graduates entries are very low for IT related courses which clearly show a skills shortage being produced in South Africa

The above mentioned challenges will inevitably affect the growth of the industry and ultimately the economy. If we can rectify this from primary school level we will start to see a positive difference for the industry. It will certainly take time, but these have to form part of the country’s long-term development plans.

Malcolm Rabson, Dariel

Will South Africa reach our national development goals if we still have a skills shortage?

Not at this rate, the NDP is a rather complex topic but from a basic understanding what was/is intended with the NDP is that we start to nurture and develop local talent, outsource less, increase our competitiveness as a country and grow the economy. We will need to put in a lot of work should we wish to meet the projected new timeframe of 2030.

The NDP long-term focus outlines the direction we want to take as a country and at this stage we should already have projects in place and initiatives underway should we wish to meet these objectives. There are some, but I do think we are lagging and while meeting the set targets is not impossible, serious changes need to take place immediately if we are to get it right.

Should we grow our local skills or look to export work to international counterparts?

We have to nurture and grow local skills – this is imperative. We need to start creating jobs and/or create an environment that will allow job opportunities. As such, while outsourcing enables a different way of thinking, a different way of approaching a project, it also limits our growth. Having a local mindset it imperative – what’s better than locally developed solutions, with the local challenges and market in mind?

We are more than capable to servicing our local demands and I stand by the belief that nobody knows the South African business environment better than South African companies. As such, we’re in a better position to develop solutions that cater to our needs. Lastly, we also need support from Corporate SA – they need to believe in local solutions and invest in us by supporting us.

If we don’t get our ICT skill levels up – what will it mean for the future of the SA ICT industry?

It will undoubtedly suffer. Technology has become the electricity of the world and really the backbone of the country, so we need to be nurturing the young and dynamic talent we are producing in country – from a long-term perspective this will see us outsourcing less and allow us to be competitive globally in the technology space. In fact, South Africa has continued to drop in ranking on the World Economic Forum’s biennial global competitiveness report to 56th in 2014 from 53rd in 2013. 

Every industry needs some form of ICT and we should be in a position to provide these services locally. Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF believes Africa could use technology in education to leapfrog developed economies, but warns that this requires a special focus on education, and particularly on teachers – which is certainly aligned with the Dariel viewpoint.

How can SA ensure that ICT graduates are work-ready?

Through partnerships with industry and tertiary institutions. This can be achieved through graduate programmes, internships opportunities, undertaking ‘special’ lecturers at institutions, helping set exams - this allows students to be exposed to the best of both worlds. The challenge here is that the industry is constantly changing and while theoretical background is great without industry and practical knowledge there tends to be a gap.

Such partnerships enable students to have both theoretical and practical knowledge equipping them with the foundational basics (which are currently missing) when entering the industry.

What can companies do to keep trained staff from leaving the company?

In our industry great software developers are hard to find and with our skill challenges, companies can’t afford to lose their skilled workers. It’s important to keep your work force engaged, appreciated and hungry – hungry for growth. There’s a misconception that staff leaving a company is always money related but if you’re not being challenged in your role, you will be demotivated and will pursue a different job that will enable you to grow in your career. This can be achieved through giving your staff projects that may be a little out of their depths as a growth opportunity – this will show staff that you believe that they are capable of excelling on the project.

Additionally, with the ever changing work environment you can never know too much and there’s always room for growth. As such, investing in training programmes also shows staff that you want to continue see them grow in their career paths.

* http://www.intergate-immigration.com/blog/jobs-in-south-africa/