Owen Hughes
| October 15, 2021
| Topic: CXO
The UK tech shortage has been made worse by a combination of Brexit and the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Image: Dimitri Otis / Getty
As organizations crank up their digital ambitions and put more of their faith (and systems) in the cloud, software developers, solutions architects, cybersecurity specialists and myriad other technology professionals find themselves the subject of a fierce bidding war.
UK businesses have found themselves in a particularly tricky spot. The country’s withdrawal from the EU prompted many European developers, who had been working in the UK under freedom of movement rules, to return home or move elsewhere. Then the pandemic struck, placing even more demand on an already limited supply of tech talent.
London-based software development firm DCSL Guidesmiths experienced this first-hand. Prior to 2016, European workers made up the majority of its developer workforce, but this changed after the Brexit vote in June of that year. “After the Brexit vote, we found the interest from the likes of Spain, Greece and Italy – where a great deal of our developers came from – dwindled, and several of our European employees wanted to return to their home countries,” CEO Nick Thompson tells ZDNet.
SEE: Developers wanted: Companies are hiring, and these are skills they’re looking for
Businesses were already struggling to hire tech talent prior to 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic made the situation considerably worse by creating massive demand for digital gateways into businesses, products and services struggling with lockdown restrictions, as well as supporting the collective switch to remote working.
It’s, therefore, little surprise that UK developers have become so highly coveted amongst the country’s employers. Given their scarce supply, Thompson says organizations need to look beyond traditional hiring efforts. “Companies are now having to think about more than just hiring their own people in a traditional office to get their software delivered – they need to look at both outsourcing, onshore and further afield,” he says.
“If you’re a company and you’re growing, you need fast access to talent. If you need fast access to talent, then you’re going to need to outsource it.”
According to data from non-profit trade association CompTIA, job advertisements for technology positions represented approximately 13% of total hiring advertisements in Europe during the first quarter of 2021, up from 11% in 2020. Software developers topped this list, with 249,017 job roles posted by employers during the period.
In the UK, it is estimated there will be a need for up to 1.5 million additional people with ‘advanced’ digital skills in the next two years. And yet, while the UK’s tech industry continues to grow at pace, it is estimated that more than half of the country’s workforce lacks basic, essential digital skills.
Lowering the barriers of entry
While there is evidently a lack of available talent, recruitment processes have also been in the spotlight.
Clair Collins, head of products and services for the Women into Science and Engineering (WISE) Campaign, argues that traditional hiring for technology roles excludes candidates from non-tech backgrounds, despite the fact that many possess transferrable skills. Women are disproportionately affected.
“If you insist on a computing undergraduate, the chances are that you’re going to attract more men than you are women, because you’ve got more men taking those undergraduate degrees by quite a significant margin,” Collins tells ZDNet.
Related Topics:
Tech Industry
Digital Transformation
Innovation
Thought Leadership
Owen Hughes
| October 15, 2021
| Topic: CXO