The chimera of the closing IT skills gap

Is the skills gap closing? At first glance, the evidence provided by the 2003 silicon.com Skills Survey - the fifth year running we've conducted the research - shows that indeed it is.

For example, last year, 32 per cent of respondents said that their employers were short of people with programming language skills such as C (and its variants), Java, XML and so on.

This year, that figure is 26.2 per cent - a substantial fall.

Last year, 15.6 per cent said their IT departments needed more techies conversant with the various flavours of Unix (excluding Linux). This year, the number is 13.3 per cent - not a huge drop, but a drop nevertheless.

Companies using Netware are also better equipped these days. Nearly six per cent of respondents to the 2002 survey said that those Novell-related skills were in shortest supply in their workplace. In 2003, it’s just five per cent.

There is only one area in which companies are now more short-staffed than before, and that's Linux. But then that's hardly surprising, as the open source operating system is becoming more and more acceptable within corporates throughout the country, and supply always lags behind demand.

Or is that the proper explanation? Sure, Linux is becoming more acceptable from a technological standpoint, and the sensible suits no longer think of it as the preserve of hairy geeks. But it's also becoming more acceptable because it is (arguably) cheaper than its rival commercial offerings. And in a recession, that's really rather important.

Indeed, all these stats could point to shrinking IT budgets, not a shrinking skills gap. There are fewer unfilled positions overall this year than last (12.4 per cent versus 17.5 per cent), but there's no evidence to suggest there are fewer unemployed techies around.

There is a higher percentage of people working in the recession-proof public sector this year than last. Government, health, education are all employing a higher percentage of our readers than before, presumably because jobs are thinner on the ground in the private sector.

Indeed, more of you said that you believe IT departments are laying off staff because of the recession this year than last.

So while it would be nice to think that recruitment policies have improved, that companies have become better at identifying the kinds of skills their IT staff must have in order for them to achieve their business objectives, that's not the whole story.

Undoubtedly in some cases it is, but there's nothing like a harsh economic environment to focus the mind.

The skills gap may be closing - but only because we can't afford to have one any more.