This article explores the current shortage of IT professionals in the UK industry, and the career opportunities open to graduates who move into the IT sector.
The United Kingdom has been a financial leader for more than a decade, however it never encountered the same success in the IT sector. As for finance, the UK government aims to find its niche in the global IT market through management, research and creative skills. To achieve these goals, the government has decided to launch several initiatives, in order to promote IT courses to younger generation, to increase the appeal of the sector. The number of IT graduate jobs is continuously increasing in the UK and IT recruiters face a shortage of IT skills which will benefit to candidates looking for Junior IT positions. But much must be done to improve the situation in terms of more graduates entering the industry.
A recent report called “Delivering i2010: Ensuring the Right Conditions for an Innovative, Inclusive & Competitive UK Knowledge Economy” was launched by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last year to assess the current IT sector, in The UK. Noting that The UK recently dropped out of the global top five nations in terms of innovation – a list based largely on patent applications – the report calls for a “national strategy” to entice young people into the industry through education and diversity, as well as improving the image of the industry and extending tax credits for companies investing in research and development in The UK.
At the 2008 Parliament and Internet Conference, Stephen Timms said that schoolchildren’s enthusiasm for computer games should be harnessed to encourage the development of skills in maths and science, the proliferation of which would eventually make The UK more competitive globally. To cope with skills shortage, Timms praised the work of e-skills UK, the government IT-sector skills council and said that the government planned to follow the recommendations of the Leicht Report, which primarily advised funding as a solution to skill problems.
However people like David Lacey, Information Security consultant argues that reliance on university education to give the right balance of computer science skills necessary for an IT graduate job was inadequate. According to him, training is the key, not university qualification, which in relatively new subject areas, like computer security is hard because it takes a long time for a discipline to mature, and a lot of feedback to kick into shape. He also adds the difference between training and education is that universities teach people how to think about and understand big issues, whereas training give skills in, say, programming languages like Cobalt.
Regarding the skills shortage, David Lacey also called for more women to be encouraged to enter the IT industry, and to fill the several IT graduate jobs created every year. Matthew Bishop of Microsoft gives a more accurate view on the UK IT industry’s shortage and argues that it needs pure researchers, but at the same time, it needs people to bring technology and design together in a way that is more consumable. He also pointed out that design was generally a “less male-dominated” industry and said that encouraging this segment would help “celebrate the diversity needed to bring the IT industry forward”.He also observed a rise of graduates IT jobs requiring base programming skills and suggested that the niche for The UK should be based in areas of “creative skills”, research and “blending technology skills with management”.
Specialists in IT Graduates Jobs, the IT Jobs for Graduates site believes also reckons that many IT companies struggle to fill their Junior IT positions, because of the war of talents. This is however a good news for candidates.If you are currently looking for an IT Junior position or an internship, you can find thousands of IT graduate positions in a variety of industry in the UK on http://www.itjobsforgraduates.com/browse/Footer-Graduate-IT-Jobs/en.
