Corporates! Bring in all-purpose filler for IT skills gap, thunders Steelie Neelie
'This is serious, people!'
Posted in Management, 5th March 2013 16:59 GMT
Free whitepaper – Hands on with Hyper-V 3.0 and virtual machine movement
Brussels' unelected digital czar warned on Monday that the European Union's competitive strength in the media and technology markets could be weakened if people fail to continue to develop the right IT skills.
Neelie Kroes said that a coalition funded by the European Commission to the tune of €1m had been created to address that perceived gap.
The commissioner said during a speech at CeBIT in Germany:
This coalition is not about reinventing the wheel It should be about building on existing success. I want people to be open in their commitments, join forces where they see the chance, and recognise we need to do things differently.
Quite simply, facing hundreds of thousands of unfilled vacancies, we cannot continue as we were; and we must all do our bit. I know it needs us all to invest resources: but the payoff will be for everyone.
Steelie Neelie reckoned there were a number of areas that needed to be fixed. She claimed some people had no idea that they could pursue jobs in the IT industry. She said tech companies needed to educate youngsters about their career options.
She went further, suggesting that the likes of Google and other "digital" outfits sink 1 per cent of their ad budgets into a joint campaign on the attractiveness of jobs with Oompah Loompahs at the Chocolate Factory.
Teacher training needs sorting out as well, apparently. It may be the case that Kroes has been looking closely at the British government - recently spotted ripping up the current IT curriculum in favour of looking to corporates to advise very closely on education policy.
On top of the €1m thrown on the pile for this Grand Coalition, Kroes said a further €3.5m would be tossed in to this spring to pay for a "pan-European awareness-raising campaign" for 2014. She ended her speech by urging private companies to come forward with pledges on how they might help fix the IT skills gap in the EU.
This is serious: it matters to our people, to our global competitiveness, to our very future. But the European Commission can't do it alone. We can only reach our goals if all of us work together.
Readers with cast iron bellies can view the full speech here. ®
Free whitepaper – Hands on with Hyper-V 3.0 and virtual machine movement
COMMENTS
Hundeds of thousands of unfilled vacancies?
I am laughing myself silly.
So where then is the law of supply and demand - why aren't huge salaries being offered for all those oh so desperately needed people to fill those vacancies?
will code for food
Hilarious, apparently there is a lack of people willing to do IT for minimum wage.
Quick, its a shortage, lets open the borders.
The fall in the IT degree students is because they have seen the writing on the wall.If they can see it why can't our lords and masters, surely their friends in business taking those huge bonuses and offering MP's directorships while their company offshores IT can explain? oh wait now I see.
Bottom line
There's no way I'd encourage my son or daughter to pursue a career in IT. The tech profession has been wrecked beyond repair by a decade of gutting by the very business leaders the commissioner is appealing to. The impoverished (both in experience and pay) tech labor pool we've got left in Europe and America is exactly what those leaders aimed for, although I suppose that they, like many others who believe in gravity-free zones, will continue in the delusion that they'll be able to just snap their fingers and turn it around at this late date.
Unfortunately those who (think they) are important have somehow got the idea that IT people are only marginally better than those awful engineers, who themselves are barely above peasant status.
While this attitude persists I see little hope of improvement - especially here in the land of dopes and Tories.
"Steelie Neelie reckoned there were a number of areas that needed to be fixed. She claimed some people had no idea that they could pursue jobs in the IT industry. "
Or they have seen so many jobs outsourced to other countries, seen wages come down and decided that there must be a better way to earn a living... just a thought....
But that would suggest much of the problem was self inflicted by the very companies she wants to fix the problem.... couldn't be that - surely?! :)
I await the glorious conclusion that we need to bring in more cheap labor and bring those salaries down some more - that will fix it for certain.
God I'm feeling grumpy today...
The new Office Garage series:
