Hey AR,<div><br></div><div>This is interesting article, thank you so much... and it is one more good reason that I have to make the DOTS program work, we did a brief introduction during EA-IGF that took place in Kigali August 17-18, 2011 and we are launching a serious pilot project very soon. Whichever way the situation is we need to increase our IT skills reserve.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Stay safe,</div><div><br></div><div>Chris <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2011/8/30 Anne-Rachel Inné <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:annerachel@gmail.com">annerachel@gmail.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<h1>The state of IT skills in Africa</h1><p><a href="http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2011/08/the-state-of-it-skills-in-africa/" target="_blank">http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2011/08/the-state-of-it-skills-in-africa/</a></p><p>The IDG Connect recently did a study on the state of IT Skills
worldwide, and a number of interesting facts have come to light
regarding Africa. The study was based on the survey of 3169 IT
professionals from 105 countries.</p>
<div style="width:410px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-19565" href="http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2011/08/the-state-of-it-skills-in-africa/537048_93574483/" target="_blank"><img title="537048_93574483" src="http://www.itnewsafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/537048_93574483.jpg" alt="" height="300" width="400"></a><p>
If
the IT skills shortage is as much of a problem as many people believe,
it will have a real impact on the future global economy (image:
stock.xchng)</p></div>
<p>“The striking thing about these results is that most people surveyed
do not appear to believe there is an IT skills shortage. Although across
the globe the majority of those who took part stated that senior
technical skills were most lacking from the market place,” said Kathryn
Cave, Editor at IDG Connect International.</p>
<p>To the question of how many IT vacancies are open in Africa, 40% of
the professionals believed that there is a medium volume of vacancies
available. This is compared to about 15% who believed there is a high
volume of vacancies open, while 30% said that there very few vacancies
available.</p>
<p>Through the study it was revealed that the majority of the
participants felt that senior technical skills were missing from the
market. A high percentage (almost 80%) said Africa needs more senior
personnel, while just over 30% suggested a need for business or entry
level staff.</p>
<p>The majority of people surveyed across all the regions also believed
the economy was a big reason for any IT employment problems. While North
America ranked the highest in blaming the economy (over 80%), only 70%
of the African felt that the economy was to blame. Just over 20% said
the African economy didn’t play a role.</p>
<p>But Africa and South America ranked the highest when it can to IT
training, with about 65% of the people believing that poor IT training
as a major problem in terms of IT employment. Although a high number
suggested poor training, the general feeling about the industry’s growth
was on the increase.</p>
<p>Of those surveyed, a vast majority felt that the lack of interest in
IT careers was not an issue in Africa. Just fewer than 30% said that it
was indeed a problem, while about 5% had no opinion on the matter.</p>
<p>Although the majority of people surveyed stated that the lack of
interest in IT careers was not an issue, 68.75% of Africans, 62.96% of
South Americans and 58.15% of Asians believed the best IT talent moves
abroad, compared to 14.15% of North Americans surveyed. “Compensations
and benefits do not reflect the hardship in the country causing flight
of skills to other countries,” commented a business manager from
Nigeria.</p>
<p>When asked what they thought were the reasons for any IT employment
problems in their area, Africa once again ranked the highest, with 71%
saying entry level workers have a different work ethic to older
employees.</p>
<p>Although the study revealed some interesting trends and movements,
Cave added that it only provides a small snap-shot of the reality. “No
research is ever fully representative and the majority of those who took
part in this survey held senior IT roles, and had been in their jobs
for over two years. In addition to this more than half across all
regions did not have plans to change job any time soon. This statistic
was highest in North America where an overwhelming 78.68% intended to
stay put.”</p>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>Best regards,<br><br>Chris Mulola<br><br><br>Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced. <i>(James Baldwin)</i><br>
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