Everyone’s daily lives are affected by IT. IT , computer systems , Apps etc have become a central part of everyday life – but there is a danger of a shortage of skilled people to look after these IT systems to maintain security and software.
The employment of ICT specialists has grown by around 2 million in the EU over last 10 years, but the European Union is facing shortages of around 370,000 in 2017 which is likely to grow by up to 500,000 in 2020 as the demand for highly-skilled ICT professionals is exceeds supply . It is predicted that there could be approximately 825,000 ICT vacancies in EU in 2020 !
Only this year – (better late then never) it was announced that Computer Science would be in the Leaving Cert exam in Ireland in 2018.
Digital skills are now recognised as essential skills, along with literacy and numeracy. A ” National Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition” has been launched in Ireland to help support Ireland’s continuing economic progress and competitiveness.
Job growth is largest in highly skilled jobs, such as management, architecture and analytics positions.
Other areas of ICT where skills are in short supply (These are job sectors that are eligible for the Highly Skilled Occupations Employment Permits )
IT specialist managers
IT project and programme managers
IT business analysts, architects and systems designers
Programmers and software development professionals
Web design and development professionals