London data center operator City Lifeline has called on the UK government to rethink its skills training initiatives, which it says are failing to prepare young people for Britain’s growth industries.
With the complexity of IT skills increasing, City LifeLine MD Roger Keenan said the government and skills training bodies are focusing on the wrong areas.
This, he said, is creating massive skills shortages and holding back the industry.
According to figures quoted by CityLifeline, 146,200 job vacancies (22 %) were unfilled last year because of inadequate skills.
This represents 16% rise in skills shortages in two years, as studies indicated there were 91,400 unfilled jobs in the IT industry in 2012.
The shortfall is being caused by over–simplified training solutions to an increasingly complex challenge, Keenan said.
City Lifeline’s own study figures indicate that 28% of UK senior IT personnel believe IT equipment has become much more complex than it was five years ago.
This, argued Keenan, is a ‘huge contributor’ to today’s increasing IT skills gap.
“It could have a huge impact on business growth,” Keenan said.
“We must look to invest more in training as technology changes by the day. We must nurture talent to keep up with this constant progression.”
The general lack of understanding of the data center industry means that the skills it demands are in particularly acute shortage, Keenan said.
“Cloud computing and fiber optic communications are growing at an explosive rate and need far more staff," Keenan said.
“The focus of the training needs to be on where the growth is – the fiber, cloud and storage industries.”
Training in technology should be focused primarily on the fundamental principles, he said.
This should then be supplemented with specific product knowledge.
“When the product line becomes obsolete, the person who has been trained will find it much easier to move to a new technology or product range if he understands the fundamental principles on which things work,” Keenan said.
Keenan called on the industry to be more creative in finding staff and tap unexploited resources such as the thousands of armed forces personnel now facing redundancy.
“Older people bring wisdom and balance. Ex-servicemen are often very good, especially in maintenance, operations and support," Keenan said.
“There’s nothing like having to get equipment to work properly in a ship under fire for teaching self-reliance.”