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IT Leaders Will Struggle To Meet Future Demands, Study Says (betanews.com)

When it comes to meeting future demands, IT leaders in the UK are lagging behind those in Germany and the US. From a report: This is according to a new report by Brocade, entitled Global Digital Transformation Skills Study. The report is based on a survey of 630 IT leaders in the US, UK, France, Germany, Australia and Singapore. It says that organizations are "at a tipping point" -- a point in time when technology demands are just about to outstrip the skills supply. Consequently, those that train their staff now and prepare for the future in that respect are the ones that are setting themselves up for a successful future. Almost three quarters (74 percent) of IT leaders in the UK see IT departments as either "very important" or "critical" to both innovation and the growth of their business. But the same woes reman, as almost two thirds (63 percent) think they'll struggle to find the right people in the next year.

113 comments

  1. fucking glorious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    i'm gonna get paid!!!!!!

    1. Re:fucking glorious by computational+super · · Score: 1

      You would think, but they've been saying this exact same thing for 30 years and I'm still waiting for the payday...

      --
      Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
    2. Re:fucking glorious by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Isn't this how they got H-1B in the first place?

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    3. Re:fucking glorious by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1
      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re: fucking glorious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, they'll hire three more Ackbars.

  2. You're outsourcing the jobs! Then you complain! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You outsource the jobs, then complain you can't find qualified workers? Bullshit.

    You're not paying them enough.

    1. Re:You're outsourcing the jobs! Then you complain! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not just that, it's that they usually refer to hire entry level applicants for entry-level positions. It does not take 3-5 years of experience to read scripts for a help desk.

      Somebody has to hire entry-level workers if they want to have experienced workers to hire. Hiring foreigners doesn't solve the problem. It just provides even less of an incentive for Americans to gain the skills when there are no jobs to be had until you've managed to get several years of experience.

    2. Re:You're outsourcing the jobs! Then you complain! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I've noticed in the UK that a lot of jobs are just six month contacts. No stability, no benefits and pay barely above salary level. I guess maybe they were getting EU people to fill those roles, at least before Brexit started.

      That said there is a genuine shortage of skills in my field. Diving natives away from the UK certainly won't help.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:You're outsourcing the jobs! Then you complain! by EvilAlphonso · · Score: 1

      There's indeed a possibility that a lot of Europeans were filling those jobs and went away because of Brexit. Friends of mine relocated away from the UK weeks after the Brexit vote, as they were made to feel very unwelcome all of a sudden (Spanish husband, Polish wife, in the UK for 10 years). The short-term, no-benefits jobs may also be because quite a few of the banks and financial places are now executing their contingency planning. My local financial regulator has been swamped since July 2016, even tho they have more than doubled their capacity to process license applications.

      I'm now getting pinged hourly by recruiters for positions in the UK, and they can't seem to understand why I'm not interested. Even pre-Brexit, moving to the UK would have made no sense to me because of the cost of living increase (earn more or less the same pre-tax, increase my cost of living by more than 30%).

    4. Re:You're outsourcing the jobs! Then you complain! by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Diving natives away from the UK certainly won't help.

      They're vital for the pearl and sponge industries.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    5. Re:You're outsourcing the jobs! Then you complain! by gweihir · · Score: 2

      It is actually a lot more long-term. As IT people have been treated badly pay- and career-wise (and in other ways) for a while now, many people that would have been good at it decided to enroll in other subjects at university or learn another trade-skill. The skill-gap is real, but those that complain now are the morons that caused it by focusing on short-term goals instead of on long-term survival.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    6. Re:You're outsourcing the jobs! Then you complain! by MrL0G1C · · Score: 1

      "cost of living increase"

      The govt have neglected housing for 3 decades, it's a roundabout cause of brexit - cost of living is too much because of stagnant wages, soaring houses prices and rents, both affected by immigration. Funny thing is the middle classes flat out refuse to accept that more people going after jobs = lower wage or that more people trying to rent or buy = higher housing costs, it's a very weird denial of the most fundamental aspect of capitalism which is 'supply and demand'. But hey, easier to just chant 'racism'.

      --
      Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
    7. Re:You're outsourcing the jobs! Then you complain! by EvilAlphonso · · Score: 1

      "cost of living increase"

      The govt have neglected housing for 3 decades, it's a roundabout cause of brexit - cost of living is too much because of stagnant wages, soaring houses prices and rents, both affected by immigration. Funny thing is the middle classes flat out refuse to accept that more people going after jobs = lower wage or that more people trying to rent or buy = higher housing costs, it's a very weird denial of the most fundamental aspect of capitalism which is 'supply and demand'. But hey, easier to just chant 'racism'.

      Not denying that it is a factor, but I don't really expect the wages to go up or the cost of housing to go down post-Brexit... or at least not in any significant way. I do expect a drop in high-paying jobs in financial services companies, banking and fintech, which will reduce the amount of money circulating in the local economy. Being just back from a short business trip in Blighty, I don't think the shop keepers need another reduction in business. Talking of supply and demand, Blighty doesn't produce half the food it produces.

    8. Re:You're outsourcing the jobs! Then you complain! by EvilAlphonso · · Score: 1

      Blighty doesn't produce half the food it produces.

      I meant food it consumes

  3. The right people by cmdr_klarg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    two thirds (63 percent) think they'll struggle to find the right people in the next year.

    Translation: Idiots who will work tons of extra hours for peanuts.

    --
    THE SOFTWARE, IT NO WORKY!!!
  4. And I predict the solution will be... by jez9999 · · Score: 2

    Import India. Don't train up the natives in the UK, why would you do that? California is so great now that it's Indian, so let's do it in the UK too!

    1. Re:And I predict the solution will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong shade of brown, look at the demographics. Reconquista's come home to roost in The Golden State.

    2. Re:And I predict the solution will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Import India. Don't train up the natives in the UK, why would you do that? California is so great now that it's Indian, so let's do it in the UK too!

      So we're paying Indians $150K/year to barely scrape by in California?

      Please provide your statistics to back up this bullshit claim.

    3. Re:And I predict the solution will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They've been doing that for 20 years. Scotland introduced a "Fresh Talent Initiative" back in the early 1990's where the Scottish Executive instructed companies not to give local engineers promotions but to only consider "fresh talent" from abroad. Needless to say, the local engineers emigrated and the companies imploded.

    4. Re:And I predict the solution will be... by ghoul · · Score: 0

      OK Californians get to complain about Indians coming to California but Mexicans dont get to complain about Anglos coming to California?
      And UK? Cmon British came to India as traders and stayed for 400 years. The English have noone to blame but themselves. if they hadnt come to India, Indians wouldnt be speaking English and taking IT jobs

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    5. Re: And I predict the solution will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Scottish Executive didn't exist in the early 90s, it was the Scottish Office, and neither it, nor the Scottish Executive has the power to interfere in a company's policy to promote its engineers.

    6. Re:And I predict the solution will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Mexicans that could complain about the Anglos coming died a very, very long time ago. California has been an American state since 1850.

    7. Re:And I predict the solution will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are too late to complain about the past. Get over it.

    8. Re: And I predict the solution will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you been to Norcal lately?

  5. "Skills supply" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can write this study off from the start.

  6. Canada's got your back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you give me dual citizenship. After all, we are still subjects of the Queen.

    1. Re: Canada's got your back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Neither Canadians nor the British are subjects of the Queen. We're citizens of our respective nations.

  7. Visa? by hackel · · Score: 1

    So does that mean I'll finally be able to get a bloody work visa soon? Not that I'm sure I'd even want one after Brexit... I certainly wouldn't blame IT people for abandoning that sinking ship!

  8. Half way there by xfizik · · Score: 5, Informative

    They have the word "demand" in the article so they are half way there - now let them figure out the "supply" part of the equation. Pay more and there will be no problem with the supply of skilled people [skilled as in properly trained, motivated, primarily local workforce, not as in "outsourced to India"].

    1. Re:Half way there by avandesande · · Score: 1

      Salaries seem to have been stagnant for the last 10 years..... they need to put their money where there mouth is.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    2. Re:Half way there by mikael · · Score: 3, Interesting

      They can't - there's a housing shortage. Giving one group of workers prices the others out of being able to afford a home. Housing quality in many areas is rather grim. There''s not enough space in front of each house for more than one car, roads aren't wide enough for cars to park on either side and have more than a single truck or ambulance get through. Driveways are "shared" between homes so that different garages actually open onto the same driveway. Some homes are only sold as leaseholds (you own the house but lease the land for 99 years, and pay rent each year) rather than freeholds (own both house and land).

      In the USA or Canada, the federal government owns all non-developed land, and so they can sell it off as and when needed. In the UK, all the undeveloped land is either owned by private estates or farmers. We have to take land used for food production out of operation in order to build more homes. UK already imports 45% of food. Married couples are being forced to house share with a room each because of the shortage in the South East. There's now the problem of beds-in-sheds-to-rent in back gardens and communal rooms in London.

      https://www.vice.com/en_uk/art...

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fin...

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    3. Re:Half way there by kbrannen · · Score: 1

      They can't - there's a housing shortage.

      I'll call BS to the general idea. Sure there may be a housing shortage in Silicon Valley, but there are a LOT of other areas where there are plenty of houses for reasonable rates with decent sized yards ... and in reasonable sized cities.

      Give up the idea that you have to live in SV, SF, NY, or any number of other expensive west/east coast cities and you'll find there are plenty of nice houses for the "geeks". Also tell your company to let you work remotely or set up a remote office in a cheaper place.

    4. Re:Half way there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you expect your on a DAMN ISLAND! YOU only have so much space - PERIOD! Do like Saudia Arabia is doing - ADD LAND mass by dumping dirt in the water!

    5. Re:Half way there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem with that is that you're starting over and in some cases you'll have higher costs associated with network connectivity and power. There's a reason why so many tech companies in Seattle.

    6. Re:Half way there by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      This. I see loads of jobs in London, Oxford, Reading and other big cities that pay about the same as I get now, but housing costs are 3-4x as much.

      Either we need a massive housing crash, prices down at least 50%, or we need £100k entry level developer salaries.

      Until recently they were able to find EU migrants willing to put up with living in a shed, but with Brexit that supply is drying up.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Half way there by EvilAlphonso · · Score: 1

      This. I see loads of jobs in London, Oxford, Reading and other big cities that pay about the same as I get now, but housing costs are 3-4x as much.

      This. The rent for a small flat close to our London office costs 7 times the monthly payment on my current property. Staying in a hotel 500 meters from the office and eating lunch/dinner in restaurants is cheaper than renting a flat in the 5 kilometers zone around the office. That's more or less what I did the last time my then-employer reassigned me for 3 months in Guildford, 15 years ago. The real estate market in the UK is seriously screwed and has been for some time.

    8. Re:Half way there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The U.S. Government does NOT own all of the non-developed land. It owns a great deal of it in some states - e.g., Alaska, where it was U.S. taxpayers who PAID to buy the entire state from Russia. But there are lots of places where there is land that is privately owned but just not developed yet. Eventually there are pressures to develop it, and then you see the trees cut down, or the sand dunes razed, etc., with the new developments often named after the thing that was destroyed to make room for them.

  9. Quickly, fire them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like they should really accelerate their lay-off programs so that the market can self-correct the skills shortage.

  10. can they really not afford GOOD outsourced work? by thebullshitpatrol · · Score: 1

    >poo in loo
    >can't figure out why workers are consistently underqualified

  11. Is there anywhere on Earth by rsilvergun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Where demand for skills doesn't outstrip supply? Also, why do I make such crap wages with so little training opportunities that aren't paid for out of my pocket if supply is such an issue. It's almost as if somebody with a vested interest in having a bigger labor pool is pushing some kind of narrative. But they wouldn't do that, would they?

    --
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    1. Re:Is there anywhere on Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Walter Lippmann sure pushed the narrative that the "bewildered herd" (consumers) should be governed by a "specialized class" (capitalists). And this has largely achieved by driving up consumption of the bewildered herd (debt) and by the specialized class putting the global labor markets in competition with each other.

      Smash your television.

    2. Re:Is there anywhere on Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Where demand for skills doesn't outstrip supply?"

      yes, prostitution

    3. Re:Is there anywhere on Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Plumbing, too. That's actually a pretty decent career, if you can stomach it. Can't be outsourced, market is easily predictable by a guy with a spreadsheet, people are grateful for your service, etc.

      Captcha: health, lol. Yeah, wash your hands after work.

    4. Re:Is there anywhere on Earth by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Where demand for skills doesn't outstrip supply?

      An unsustainable situation. One or more of the following will occur:
      * Consumers will learn to live without it.
      * Sellers will increase because people will be attracted into doing it.
      * The price will shift until demand and supply balance.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    5. Re:Is there anywhere on Earth by pmarinus · · Score: 1

      The reason companies don't want to pay for training is that that after a few layoffs employees have no reason to stay with a company if they can find a better job that uses their new skills.

    6. Re:Is there anywhere on Earth by Neuronwelder · · Score: 1

      I'm glad you mentioned the TV. (Almost all media is a source of all lies)

  12. Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

    I read a study after the dot com bust that the IT industry will have a shortage of skilled workers as baby boomers retire and foreign workers go home by 2030. That's when I decided to go back to school to learn computer programming and got into IT support. I'm looking forward to making money in the next 30 years.

    1. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bahaha. learned to code in school. you are a special kind of stupid arent you?

    2. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Funny

      bahaha. learned to code in school.

      Maintaining a 4.0GPA while taking two classes per semester, working 60+ hours as a lead video game tester and teaching Sunday school.

      you are a special kind of stupid arent you?

      At least I know how to capitalize my sentences.

    3. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Maintaining a 4.0GPA while taking two classes per semester, working 60+ hours as a lead video game tester and teaching Sunday school."

      All the while fielding 20+ emails a day from 800 recruiters in two years!

      You really are funny, creimer.

    4. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      My ebooks are available at Amazon and Smashwords. You can also visit me at my author website, personal blog, YouTube and Twitter.

    5. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People who have not gone to school do not know what they have missed.

      People who have gone to school know what they lacked before they went, and what they have now.

      Very commonly, people who have never gone to school protect their pride by mocking those who have.

      Very rarely do people who have gone to school (for programming, at least) say "boy, that was a waste!"

      Keep laughing. I am busy checking up on my investment portfolio.

    6. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Working 60+ hours is burnout material. You should be careful. You might feel fine now, but your nervous system can only keep that up for so long. When it hits you, it will be really surprising, you won't understand what is happening, and you could suddenly find yourself dealing with acute depression for no apparent reason (the actual reason being serotonin depletion from sustained stress).

      If coding is your goal, that QA experience will be better than nothing, but it won't do much more for you than getting your foot in the door of your first job or two. So do what you gotta do for the money, but don't overdo it, because the long-term gain probably won't offset the costs to your health.

      And...as an aside.....

      Putting your faith in the Bible is not the same thing as putting your faith in God. It is a well-known fact that every word in the Bible was put to paper by human hands. The notion that God miraculously maintains the accuracy of the Bible is also cooked up by humans. And, as we all know, humans are fallible. So when you put your faith in the Bible, you are actually putting your faith in every fallible human that contributed to it, and also the fallible humans that translated it, and also the fallible humans who guide your interpretation of it.

      Faith in humans is not faith in God. If you truly want to put your faith in God, then you must protect yourself from the lies that humans tell about God. The Bible is full of them.

    7. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Working 60+ hours is burnout material.

      My IT Support contracts for the last 10+ years have prohibited me from working more than 40 hours per week. When I'm not working the full-time that pays the bills, I'm working 20 to 40 hours for my own company.

    8. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're so full of shit marine biologists think you're a constipated whale.

      Fuck off with your bullshit.

    9. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      You're so full of shit marine biologists think you're a constipated whale.

      Fuck off with your bullshit.

      What part of my comment is bullshit?

      *crickets*

      That's what I thought.

    10. Re:Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What study is this? The dot com bubble burst back in 2001!

    11. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      This is the thing I like about Slashdot: people say meanest and stupidest things about me here that I'm not shocked when someone says the meanest and stupidest things to my face.

    12. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You say the stupidest things about yourself. Don't act surprised when people mock you for the fantastic amounts of bullshit you write.

    13. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      You say the stupidest things about yourself.

      That's because I'm having fun.

      Don't act surprised when people mock you for the fantastic amounts of bullshit you write.

      The funny thing is that people pay me to read my bullshit. You should be grateful that you're reading for free. ;)

    14. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Another unintelligible comment. Good thing I don't waste my time trying to read this drivel. Some asshats just don't have better things to do.

    15. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then why are so many CS degree holders so bad at programming? I'd prefer any day to work with a colleague who studied philosophy, physics, or linguistics.

      But hey - credentialists gonna credentialize.

    16. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aah look, the fat butt of the joke thinks the joke is unintelligible. Some fatasses just don't fit through the gates. Logic gates. In space. XOR mothafucka!

    17. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Are you the asshat who drops $3,000 per night on wine? Drunk posting on Slashdot is shameful.

    18. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's unfortunate. The last two paragraphs might have helped you. You just keep enjoying your mood drugs, your "weight loss" candy, your workout walks from the chair to the couch, your lack of marketable skills or salary, and your clown makeup. Fixing any of the numerous parts of your shitty life would mean admitting they're shitty, and that's dangerous thinking. You might jump off the bridge and sink a boat.

      It took me about 20 seconds to read that post that was too long for you. Maybe if you walked faster than 3 miles per hour during your "workout" you'd have time to read it too - although someone like you would need a full minute.

    19. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      says the guy eating candy for weight loss. a glass of red wine per day is a net positive - something an average person knows. not you - though - show with your life you are below average intelligence, and with your photo that you are obese and know zero about nutrition.

      oh, you're trying to be sarcastic. i find it hilarious when people who are not bright try to be funny. they have nothing smart they can actually come up with as a putdown, so they take a bland regular thing, change it's facts, and make fun of it. because they literally cannot come up with anything actually funny.

      i'm the asshat with the 3k bottle of wine by the way. you can tell by my lack of caps. are you that apk bucket of autism that touts a mediocre 5-line perl script as the defacto solution to malware? taking complete underaccomplished crap and glorifying it seems to be a common brain disease with you two. maybe a side effect of the same prescription? and literally answering every single comment made to you. what % of your time is spent on slashdot comments? about same % as your bodyfat?

    20. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      i'm the asshat with the 3k bottle of wine by the way.

      Not only do you piss away your money, you also piss away your time. You don't know what to do with either.

    21. Re: Knew this since the dot com bust... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      It took me about 20 seconds to read that post that was too long for you.

      I can read 100+ pages per hour, depending on the complexity of material. I'm not going to read 20 seconds of drivel meant to insult my intelligence because some asshat gets off insulting people on the Internet because they have nothing better to do with their life.

  13. Why so many "BetaNews" submissions at Slashdot?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is there a submission linking to this "BetaNews" site on the front page of Slashdot almost every day?

    On March 31 there were two submissions linking to it. On March 25 there were three front page submissions linking to "BetaNews"!

    "BetaNews" is not even a well-known site. I can sort of understand submissions linking to Ars Technica. I can sort of understand linking to a mainstream media site. But "BetaNews", of all sites?! Why is it being linked to so often?

    In my opinion, the quality of the submissions and the "BetaNews" articles that they link to isn't even that good!

    It looks really suspicious to me when there's a Slashdot front page submission linking to this "BetaNews" site almost every day. It looks even more suspicious to me when we see that "msmash" is the editor associated with so many of these submissions.

    What's going on here? Why are there so many front page submissions linking to this "BetaNews" site so often? One a month might be understandable. But one almost every day? What's going on here?

  14. outstrip the skills supply = need more H1B's by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    It's hard to find people willing to work for 60+ hours a week for 60K in the bay area.

    1. Re:outstrip the skills supply = need more H1B's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's hard to find people willing to work for 60+ hours a week for 60K in the bay area.

      Fuck you Greed. Fuck you right in the asshole for not wanting to pay a living wage in the bay area.

      Also, fuck you bay area, for needing six figures to escape poverty.

    2. Re: outstrip the skills supply = need more H1B's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The article is about the UK, so presumably you mean Tiger Bay?

    3. Re: outstrip the skills supply = need more H1B's by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Or maybe Bayswater?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  15. Skills needed by Archfeld · · Score: 5, Informative

    4 year college degree, and 5 years experience in a technology that has only existed for 14 months and cannot be taught in a classroom outside of business anyways. The requirements are way past ridiculous and border on the insane. To top it all off the person doing the hiring hasn't a clue about the actual technical requirements needed to perform the job. They want their cake and want it for free, they want to tell you what to do, how to do it and pay you next to nothing all the while not having a clue what they REALLY want, how to do it, or the resources needed to do it with. Just another day in the life of an IT professional...

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    1. Re:Skills needed by computational+super · · Score: 3, Informative

      And they want you to do it in a wide-open bullpen office with no walls, listening to your coworkers shout on the phone, burp and talk about their dogs right next to you.

      --
      Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
    2. Re:Skills needed by Archfeld · · Score: 1

      LOL you sound like you work at the same place I do. Most currently the excuse for the open office layout I work in is security. The idea is no one will do anything risky if someone is always looking at you. Luckily the environment needed for the equipment is not conducive to human habitation so I spend most of my time in a microfiber pullover under the tiles in the lab rather than at my desk, only the parts ordering and weekly reporting draws me to my workstation.

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    3. Re:Skills needed by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      5 years experience in a technology that has only existed for 14 months and cannot be taught in a classroom outside of business anyways. The requirements are way past ridiculous and border on the insane.

      There's a "shortage" of good liars. I know a guy who was a fantastic BS-er that way. He had a network of fake references, for example. "Sure, he was doing Java for us in 1989. We used the first beta out. And he used Silverlight when it was still Bronzelight."

      I felt too slimy to copy his techniques, but in a competitive world where a position receives hundreds of resumes, it's "survival of the fibbist", I hate to say.

    4. Re: Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What? Everyone near my half-wall, padded cell love my dog stories! I have dogs smarter than all their Honor Roll brats, and they're way more entertaining. Why, just this morning Dude and Molly caught a squirrel in the back yard, and...

    5. Re:Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Plus, we buy crappy headsets that require employees to almost yell to be heard. That is driving me insane.

      That and lack of vacation time since we can't afford to hire enough people. I've worked all but four weekends the past year. I'm getting married in two weeks, and I've already been asked to work the day after and two days the week after. Comcast is dropping support for our building so we're having to move to a much more expensive and slower dual T1 with AT&T. In addition, we're adding a generator and automatic transfer switch on the Sunday after my wedding, so I don't see how I can really take much time off.

    6. Re:Skills needed by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      4 year college degree, and 5 years experience in a technology that has only existed for 14 months and cannot be taught in a classroom outside of business anyways.

      And be under 20 years old, left handed and a Sagittarius with garde 3 piano and a brown belt in judo.

      I saw an ad like that once - maybe it was a typo but you'd have had to be admitted to college two years early and finished in half the time AND been working overtime while doing it.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    7. Re:Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > almost yell to be heard.

      OMG, this. The mics and headphones on our headsets suck since we're required to buy Microsoft garbage since our main investor is a former EVP at Microsoft like my Microsoft LX-6000 headset. I can't hear other people even with the volume turned up all of the way, and they can't hear me unless I nearly yell. My job sucks.

    8. Re: Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You're right about vacation time. There just isn't enough of a supply of competent people so we can't take time off.

    9. Re: Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This. There just aren't enough people that can do the job so we're stuck with long hours and no vacation time.

    10. Re: Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You're right about vacation time. There just isn't enough of a supply of competent people so we can't take time off.

      You are correct. I worked hard the past 31 years to become CTO, and there just aren't enough qualified people. I just checked my folder where I save resumes, and I've saved nearly 400 the past six years since I started saving them there. I think only three people passed my interview in that time. That's less than 1 out of a hundred! That's why we've been basically on a death march since 1993 and limited vacation time. It sucks having the budget for over twenty years to hire people, but we just can't find people to hire.

    11. Re:Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft LX-6000

      I work for Microsoft, and I think our internal price for those is nearly $50! They suck. I have to hold the mic near my mouth, cover the mic with my hand, and talk loudly in order to be heard. It sucks being surrounded by people using that crappy headset.

    12. Re: Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do I work for you? But seriously, it sucks not being able to find people even though you have the budget to hire them. I've been on a seven year death march, and coworkers are dropping like flies. I hate the fact I've never had a real vacation my entire adult life.

    13. Re: Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't be so lazy! Hire kids right our of college that have potential and TRAIN THEM! That is what I'm doing. I have found kids right out of college outperform all the India contractors we brought in an sent right back home because they just didn't perform.

    14. Re: Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No phones and not allowed to use personal phones so we're stuck with Skype that just sucks with voice calls.

    15. Re:Skills needed by Neuronwelder · · Score: 1

      There is also another side to your coin. How often do corporations lie? Answer: When their lips move, they lie.. Give them what they worked so hard to deserve!! Act like a typical politician during interviews.

    16. Re: Skills needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Was one of those college kids 20y ago. Thank you for everything

    17. Re:Skills needed by antdude · · Score: 1

      And most of them won't offer remote options and require people to work onsite fulltime!

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    18. Re:Skills needed by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Isn't stating an age requirement in the advert automatic age discrimination?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    19. Re:Skills needed by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      As is a nationality requirement[1]. It never gets enforced.

      [1] Certain military/police things excepted.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  16. Not sure if it's good or bad.. by evolutionary · · Score: 1

    For me I suppose it's okay because I'm old school and have proven I can continually expand my skill sets. For whatever reason, many people in IT seem to stop learning after their certification/university degree courses. Not all of course, but many I've encountered. Perhaps this is in part because of false starts. The people who started (and in many, many cases ended) their careers with MS Visual Basic and database template gui's like crystal reports. In my opinion, any IT person who doesn't know how to get around Linux/BSD/Unix (including MacOS ) is just waiting to get axed and those are most often the people I encounter having trouble keeping work. I guess my recommendation is similar to a stock market portfolio: diversify, diversify, diversify. right now, the big markets (pardon the pun), seem to be Big Data (marketing analysis primarily), AI, Robotics, and OO Programming (Java is there but may be on decline in a few years in favor of Python or improved JavaScript and possibly C/C++). Ruby is also on the rise. anything that makes coding more readable is definitely a big one to be part of these days. We need to train others in how to watch trends and update accordingly. that was one thing an old mentor gave to me that was invaluable. He predicted Java's rise before Java was cool.

    --
    "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
    1. Re:Not sure if it's good or bad.. by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      There are different people who think different ways. Some people struggle to learn one thing. Does that mean they should be out of a job? I learn things on the fly like you, but I'm not prepared to punish someone for not being able to adapt.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    2. Re:Not sure if it's good or bad.. by sourcerror · · Score: 1

      AI, Robotics, and OO Programming (Java is there but may be on decline in a few years in favor of Python or improved JavaScript and possibly C/C++).

      Python is getting stronger in data mining and the cloud (AWS lambda), but that's because it has nice bindings for a lot of c/c++ libraries. Typescript is nice, but it doesn't have a mature ecosystem (like a mature IDE).
      C++ is still overly complicated which prevents good autocomplete and needs expensive tools to sanity check.

      General purpose computing will be the domain of Java and C# for a long time.

  17. Compensation by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    Pay and treat people very well in the profession now, and in 5 years or so you will see more people coming into the profession. That's usually the sane way to do it.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  18. How do we get into this? by jago25_98 · · Score: 1

    What's the most time efficient pathway into work for someone not interested in programming? Something that actually works even if it's a crap job.

    A testing qualification of some sort?
    Cisco style sysadmin style small modules that will get you *something*.
    Or just a MCSE?

    ^ and combine all this with the usual self study.

    1. Re:How do we get into this? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

      When I got started after the dot com bust, I got my A+, Network+ and Microsoft Windows 2000 certification. That set me up for IT Support contracts that start at $10 per hour (minimum wage) in Silicon Valley.

  19. Low wages. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The pay scales for software engineers (and probably IT people too) are about half what they are in the USA.

    And there's a shortage? Oh my! I wonder why?

    1. Re:Low wages. by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      The same reason why we the US has a shortage of skilled trade workers: we told kids that college was the path to a great paying career. Skilled trade workers are retiring, foreign skilled trade workers are going home and no one are replacing them. After the dot com crash, kids saw no future in computers and went into healthcare. As skilled IT workers retire and foreign IT workers go home, no one is going to replace them.

    2. Re:Low wages. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many skilled trade wages haven't gone up in years. A welder making $19/hr in the 80s made a lot more than the same welder making $23/hr today.

      Also many of the job assignments are short. Businesses that hire skilled tradesmen/women can and frequently do go down the tubes (or just move production overseas).

      IT hasn't proven to be much better, mind you. A lot of false promises rode that bandwagon.

  20. UK behind Germany? by spatley · · Score: 1

    So Technology and engineering in the UK is in danger of being substandard compared to Germany?

    Say it ain't so!
    Next thing you know Mercedes will be more reliable than Jaguar!

  21. $$ cha ching $$ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Time for tech workers to finally be managed like pro athletes.

  22. Re: You're outsourcing the jobs! Then you complain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The used a term that is foreign to me. "Companies that train"? Companies don't train people in the USA. Companies use up people and burn them out, then replace them with foreign labor.

  23. Recruitment process and bad leadership/training by hughbar · · Score: 2

    I'm in the UK, semi-retired but still do some freelance, some (free and paid) support for voluntary organisations. I've been 'industry' for 40 years this year.

    The first thing I see is a mad/incompetent buzzword list based recruitment process from agencies that don't understand anything about technology. I'm asked to do stuff, then eliminated because one easy-to-learn (I mean a couple of days, usually) thing is missing from the application. I don't lie either, I don't like it and don't need to. This leads to the next thing.

    When I entered the industry, managers and companies expected to train and develop (permanent) staff, as part of the social contract. They understood that people don't know everything but half-way smart/motivated people can learn stuff too. Now this is treated as an economic externality in that they expect the (very expensive) universities and colleges to do everything for them. They appear to complain bitterly on television when they find that they may have to use some of their own resources.

    Finally, on the same lines, they need to try and let non graduates and other fields in. There weren't any computer science degrees when I started, I studied chemistry and a lot of my co-workers studied Greek and Latin, for example. Ability to learn is (often) a horizontal thing, though I agree people have blind spots.

    So this can probably be sorted out, but it requires a change of attitude in the career chain.

    --
    On y va, qui mal y pense!
  24. But the same woes reman by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Ramen, like noodles? Roman, like Julius Caesar?

    Perhaps they're talking about unabandoning a ship?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  25. so quit changing things constantly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if skills are scarce, then QUIT CHANGING THINGS CONSTANTLY and let people use the skills they have, problem solved

  26. From TFA by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    New and needed skills are lacking, while those that are outdated are prevailing.

    The level of insight to come up with this isn't something you can learn. You're born with it. It's a gift.

    After the break: firstborn children are generally older than their siblings, claims report.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  27. Brocade by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Anyone else wondering what this "brocade" outfit's trying to sell?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  28. TAKE THE TIME !!! by Archfeld · · Score: 2

    DO NOT let them bully you into working NO MATTER how critical they make it seem. You and your wife deserve the honeymoon and you will NEVER EVER get the newly wed feeling back again. You can tell your self you'll take a honeymoon later and you may well do it but it won't be the same. That 'new car smell' forgive my crude analogy will wear off soon enough. Take her some place special and quiet, just the 2 of you and enjoy newly married life and each other...Thus speaks the voice of experience. A previously married guy, now divorced. My GF and I make sure to get away on a quarterly basis for a little bit of time, even if it is just a long weekend. I won't make the same mistakes twice...

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?