Lack of IT Specialists Hampers Sector Development
Surprisingly in a country known for its public e-prowess, the deficit of skilled IT workers is even worse than previously thought, a new study by the Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications reveals.
According to the study, there are currently 1,745 urgent vacancies in the sector for analysts, codewriters and project managers, ETV reported. The three-year estimate puts the number of jobs created in the industry above 6,000, but filling all these jobs seems to have become a pain for the educational system.
Commenting on the results, Taavi Kotka, president of the association, said that the growing economy and the euro have created a soaring demand for workforce in the sector that is almost impossible to fill with local recruits. If not for the lack of specialists, the information and communications technology sector would be able to increase its value by around 267 million euros in three years, according to the association's estimate.
Kotka said that several large Scandinavian companies have considered moving production into Estonia but are currently refraining from doing so simply because the local market is unable to supply skilled IT people.
The director of the telecommunications provider Elion, Valdur Laid, also echoed the concerns, saying that Elion could well become a hothouse for developing new services for the whole Telia-Sonera Group, if it wasn't so badly short-staffed.
Both Kotka and Laid pointed at the education system that is providing excellent graduates but simply too few of them to meet the industry's demand. The Ministry of Education has cited the fact that a large number of undergraduates are hired away by companies before they have time to complete their studies as one of the reasons.
"Colleges have complained that without grants and new curricula it's difficult to change things," said Mart Laidmets, head of the higher education department at the Ministry of Education. Laidmets said he expects the National IT Academy that is currently being set up to offer a comprehensive solution to the problem, as the state has now come to recognize information technology as an educational priority.
Erkki Sivonen