Approximately one-third of the employers surveyed believe there has been an increase in the IT skills gap since a year ago. 87% of employers say they struggle to find qualified talent as a result. Based on McKinsey’s study, respondents favor skill-building as a means of bridging the skills gap.
Throughout this article, we will learn what an IT skills gap is, how to identify it, how to analyze it, and how to upskill your employees.
An overview of a technology skills gap
Employees say their employers don’t understand their current capabilities more than 50% of the time. Consequently, employers offer the wrong kind of training or do not offer any training at all. If your existing workforce doesn’t have the skills they need to perform their jobs, you have a technology skills gap.
You can ensure that your tech team is equipped to meet the demands of your organization and adapt to the ever-changing tech industry by conducting a skills gap analysis. Setting career development goals can help managers identify gaps in their development teams.
Steps to implement a skill gap analysis
- Determine what skills are required for a specific job description
- Identify key “future skills” by tracking market trends
- Make sure your employees are up-to-date on their skills
- Close the IT skills gap with data-driven planning
- Keep an eye on IT skills gap analysis regularly
The best way to upskill your in-house developers and close the gap
Would you be able to add any specific upskilling methodologies to help your developers achieve the skills of the future? The following training programs can be relied upon for your job:
- Workshops for your team
Your tech teams should hold internal workshops at reasonable intervals during which a representative from each team shares their tips, tricks, and knowledge.
In addition, you may consider bringing in professional training firms that hold seminars and provide developers with hands-on training. Technology teams would be highly engaged and informed if industry experts conducted workshops at their companies.
- Mentorship program
The more experienced developers can pass on their knowledge to freshers by partnering with them. By guiding and teaching junior developers, they can also enhance teamwork and knowledge transfer.
The implementation of a smart workplace mentoring program improves the culture of the company, keeps new hires engaged, and makes the learning environment more supportive.
- Certification courses from outside
Make sure there is a budget set aside for external training. If you want to encourage your team to take courses on Udemy or Coursera, make sure they are certificates of completed courses. Courses like Full-Stack, DevOps, Blockchain, and more are available to developers wishing to upskill or learn new skills.
- Skills assessments for employees
When it comes to ensuring your employees are ready for the future, your organization must be intentional. At every stage of their career, nurture and engage them to ensure they are up-skilled or re-skilled.
- Hackathons between employees
For maximum productivity, you need to keep everyone engaged when they work remotely. Doing this will help close the gap between their current skill level and their desired skill level.
