A recent study conducted by Microsoft and other leading IT organisations has revealed that the UK is facing a £20 billion IT skills shortage. Neil Gordon, General Manager at IT & Telecoms firm, Escape, discusses this issue and the reasons behind it.

“IT is a booming industry – with the advent of new technologies and the desire for a ‘paperless’ office, more so than ever, we need an effective IT system in place. However, a recent survey found that only 20,000 new IT graduates are produced from the UK each year. This is in comparison to Asian and Eastern European countries which are producing hundreds of thousands of relevantly trained graduates every year.

“The study conducted also found that those involved at the start of the UK software industry three decades ago are now moving towards retirement, and there are simply not enough graduates being trained to take their places.

“With a 50 per cent drop in applications for computer related degrees in the past five years, and 47 per cent fewer systems engineering students and 60 per cent fewer software engineering students, the IT industry needs to attract and retain skilled people.”

Escape is recognised by Deloitte as the fastest growing IT company in Scotland and this has been achieved due to its people. The company offers extra benefits to retain staff and motivational incentives help boost morale – but is this enough?
“As a company, we believe it’s important that our workforce is diverse. We employ female engineers and people of all ages – this is important to us as a firm and helps us attract and retain our people. When we employ new people, personality is just as important as qualifications – our engineers need to be personable and team players and this ensures our clients get the best service possible.

“As an industry, we need to raise the profile of what we do and encourage more young people to take computer science as a degree subject. The IT sector holds many opportunities for people and this needs to be promoted at an early age.”
Escape staff are trained to become accredited in key disciplines – this includes Citrix, HP & Microsoft as well as additional software including anti-virus product Trend and data recovery product Neverfail.

“The training helps our staff become accredited in our key services and shows that we care about their personal development. Accreditations also aid staff loyalty as they enjoy being with a company that has extra credibility. Being the top in our industry makes our staff proud of what we do and believe in what we offer.”

Even so, the IT industry may need a wake up call – by 2010, it could suffer as the lack of skilled personnel could be even more apparent. Education of what the industry offers should start at a young age and hopefully this will encourage more young people to consider IT as a viable career path for the future.