The Education of IT Professionals and Our Youth

It’s about the education of IT professionals and our youth. For the IT professional, education, training and obtaining certifications before 9/11 were common activities throughout many companies. But at this time, much of that extensive training and education (in-house and companies paying for training and certifications) has decreased. While some professional organizations and businesses continue to conduct training, many IT professionals are coming out of their pockets now and some unemployed are taking courses and training classes to upgrade their skills without being reimbursed. Many of these IT professionals are concerned about where the jobs are and if employers will put the American work force back to work.

Certifications are still required as a prerequisite for many jobs/positions, which brings us to a question. Certifications became a means to weigh the hard skill requirements. Are the individuals competing for off-shored jobs certified? What percentage is certified? We know employers look at more than certification; experience, education, training and soft skills, but are the requirements and qualifications for off-shored jobs the same as they are for the equivalent job in the U.S.?

On-the-one-hand we have graduates that are concerned about finding employment or jobs in the industry. On-the-other-hand, we know that many of our youth are not acquiring the hard and soft skills that are required for available and future positions. What do we do to ensure that our youth acquire the requisite skills? Many of our youth and college students see a dismal future in the industry with so much going on. One indication was a student told me that he changed his major from computer science because of his fear of how things may look later for employment in the IT industry. If we as IT professionals are discouraged, what do you think about our young adults and our youth? They need our support and encouragement. Continue with mentoring programs, internships, co-ops, summer programs, etc.

We are hearing about jobs being available but not having enough qualified individuals to fill the many positions. Well identify and announce those jobs/positions and the education and training required to fill the positions. Businesses, professional organizations, higher education institutions, technical schools and training centers must collaborate to provide appropriate theoretical and practical courses that are, or will be, relevant. Collaboration must take place to support the mission of education and the requirements for our current and future work force.