Talent gap in IT growing threat

The growing IT "talent gap" is more than a pending competitive disadvantage, it represents a very real threat to our financial and economic security.

Delegates at a workshop offered in conjunction with the launch of the Dalhousie University's Privacy and Security Lab heard today that university applicants all over North America continue to shy away from computer and highly technical education, despite the fact there are, and will continue to be, more job opportunities than ever in the field.

Also see: Dalhousie launches privacy and security lab

The PSL launch and workshop has attracted academic, industry and government leaders to the campus, to celebrate Dalhousie's unique multi-disciplinary approach to computer security and privacy issues, represented by the Lab, and to discuss information technology challenges and solutions.

"Twenty years ago when the computers went down, it meant payroll was late.  Today, it can mean lives are lost," Harris Miller, president of the largest IT industry association in the world - the Information Technology Association of America - reminded workshop participants during the early morning session.

He and others identified the "talent gap" as the most pressing problem in advancing technological security; protection of privacy and economic growth, but he maintained a relatively optimistic outlook.

"In the early days of the railroad, 200 people a week were killed on trains.  J.P. Morgan, who introduced residential electrical service to much of the country, refused to have his own house connected, for fear of all the fires it was causing," Harris noted as illustration of early problems with other technologies.

John Schwarz, President of Symantec, the world's number one computer security company, pointed out that since the so-called dot-bomb there has been a 30 to 60 per cent reduction in students entering advanced IT programs at universities across North America, a very troubling trend in his industry.

There are more IT jobs in North America today than ever, but the myth that the future is bleak, that grew up in the wake of the collapse of internet-related businesses five years ago, persists.

Mr. Miller noted that on the list of the 10 best jobs of the future produced by the U.S. government, five are IT related.

Janet Walden, Vice President of NSERC, pointed out that the talent gap is particularly acute among women, who continue to stay away from IT, electrical engineering and other highly technical career options.

Research suggests girls form visions of their future career aspirations as early as grade four to six, so it was suggested that the Lab take on outreach to primary educators and students as part of its mandate.