IT training body E-skills UK has revealed it is working on a scheme to help IT graduates acquire the mid-tier skills they would have traditionally gained in roles that are now moving offshore.
Tilly Travers of the government-appointed skills body said that employers are increasingly realising that the increase in offshore outsourcing is disrupting the established career ladder for IT professionals.
“A new IT graduate used to have a career ladder of different roles that would lead to them becoming a project manager or IT chief,” Travers said. “But a lot of the middle rungs on that ladder have now been outsourced or moved to India and China.”
E-skills is keen to tackle this problem, according to Travers. The organisation has recently begun work on a new development programme designed to speed up the skills acquisition of IT staff during the first two years of their careers.
The initiative was welcomed by the British Computer Society (BCS) and the Corporate IT Forum, which agreed that offshoring and the adoption of automated systems are creating a gap in the traditional IT career path. However, both bodies insisted that IT graduates should also be equipped with a better mastery of business skills.
“The number of software professionals in the UK is declining, but the number of IT managers and business analysts is increasing significantly,” said Elizabeth Sparrow, chair of the offshoring group at the BCS. “We need to give new entrants the business skills they need to go into those senior roles more quickly.”
David Roberts, chief executive of the Corporate IT Forum, agreed that IT professionals must develop more commercial acumen. “Speeding up the technological knowledge [alone] of UK professionals will not make people more employable in this country and not necessarily provide corporates with the commercially-focused skills they need,” he argued.
The new “first two years programme” is currently in the consultation phase, Travers said, with E-skills seeking input from employers about what the accelerated development initiative should include. IT training body E-skills UK has revealed it is working on a scheme to help IT graduates acquire the mid-tier skills they would have traditionally gained in roles that are now moving offshore.
The UK's skills crisis continues to worsen, warns report 08 Jan 2007
Government and Microsoft plan new face of learning 01 Feb 2007
The British Computer Society aims to gather support for its Skills Framework programme 14 Feb 2007
Shareholder vote in May will decide if PwC will remain as auditor of troubled Indian outsourcing giant 22 Jan 2009
New report warns that a lack of IT skills will damage the country's economy 09 Sep 2008
Indian services provider will acquire SAP consultant Axon for £407.1m 26 Aug 2008
Unsettled business climate means outsourcing relationships could be in for a shakeup 17 Jul 2008
But transferring 150 field service engineers to a third-party would not please customers, say insiders 15 Apr 2009
Survey of public sector IT managers reveals deep concern over ability to deliver on carbon-neutral targets 03 Jul 2009
Fresh funding will provide new wave energy research equipment and support research 03 Jul 2009
EPA hints it could soon raise efficiency bar for routers, modems and storage systems 03 Jul 2009
More news
From record-breaking solar panels to the International Renewable Energy Agency's new home, we round up the top stories from the past week 03 Jul 2009
Well, I hope they got a no win, no fee deal. I don't like being cynical (it's more of a congenital thing)... 03 Jul 2009
Recycling waste heat is nothing new, so why has the computer industry not kept up? 01 Jul 2009 More in-depth
Post your comment
Send an email to the Business Green editor at feedback@businessgreen.com
