SA IT skills shortage continues

South Africa continues to have a serious specialised ICT skills gap. For the more skilled people salaries are growing but the skills gap if anything has increased. This limits the ability for enterprises to kick off projects and could even depress the hiring of more junior IT staff as there are not enough resources to mentor them.

Adrian Schofield of the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) said that our education system and enterprises are failing to deliver sufficient higher end ICT skills. 1.2 million people enter the basic education system each year and only 25% emerge with a Matric. South Africa needs to invest more in basic education to increase the number of Matrics that are capable of entering tertiary education.

Parvana cannot find enough of certain skills especially Java, Python, Javascript, C# and others. Devops and automated testing skills are also few and far between. People with such in-demand skills should not only negotiate a good package but should look hard at the kind of work on offer. A job that challenges you and develops your skills will add to your future earnings.

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