The talent deficit is something that is affecting all countries in Europe and Spain is one of the countries most affected by this crisis. Today, September 12, is Programmer’s Day, a key technological profile for advancing digitalisation strategies. It is a date to highlight their essential role in society and the economy when it comes to solving complex problems by offering innovative solutions through lines of code. It is also a good opportunity to put on the table the shortage of technological talent in the EU, which is a burden on the digital transition.
In fact, the Community authorities have set themselves the goal of recruiting 20 million new ICT specialists as part of their Digital Decade initiative, quite a challenge if we take into account that there are currently only 9.8 million qualified professionals available. As for Spain, the figure is just over 900,000, and it would need to have 1.5 million in six years.
As Patricia Baeza, Chief People Officer of the Spanish IT multinational Fibratel, explains, “technology is a key tool for addressing the digital transformation of the economy and, to do so, we need to have highly qualified professionals. However, the shortage of specialized personnel is becoming entrenched and this could put European and, of course, Spanish competitiveness at risk. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum, 70% of the economic value of the next decade will be linked to digitalization. Urgent solutions are needed.”
The talent deficit is something that is affecting all countries in Europe and Spain is one of the most affected countries.
For the Human Resources expert, solving this challenge requires a series of coordinated measures, ranging from public-private cooperation, prioritizing STEM education and expanding the training capacity of countries, to facilitating the incorporation of women into STEM careers or the implementation of programs in companies that promote professional development and retraining.
From the point of view of Fibratel, based on the projects it is working on with its business clients, the most sought-after professionals are those with a high level of knowledge of cloud computing, development and DevOps, cybersecurity, big data and data analytics, systems and data centers, as well as specialists in innovative technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence, which must be integrated into the architectures that companies already have in order to obtain competitive advantages.
“The challenge is there and if we are not able to close the gap in advanced IT skills, our companies will be weaker compared to other world powers. Europe, and especially Spain, has very high-level professionals but we need to rapidly expand the base of experts with IT skills,” concludes Patricia Baeza.
