IT talent shortage "hurting" most Canadian companies

On the one hand, technology is so pervasive, IT workers are being snapped up by Canadian firms across the board. On the other, enrolments in IT courses continue to decline sharply. How do we resolve this conundrum? Four experts share their views at Toronto Tech Week.
9/23/2008 8:00:00 AM By: Nestor E. Arellano

Very few opportunities for advancing into senior IT positions is a key factor that's turning off many Canadians from pursuing a career in technology, say industry insiders.

The resulting talent drought, they note, is significantly hurting most local companies.

Government and industry leaders who are slow to realize the value of nurturing IT talent only have themselves to blame for the severe tech labour crunch, panel speakers said on Monday at the opening of the Toronto Tech Week convention.

"We have talent shortage – not because jobs are going away due to off-shoring," said David Ticoll, chair of the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC).

Ottawa-based ICTC is a non-profit sector council dedicated to creating a strong and highly-educated Canadian information and communications technology (ICT) industry and workforce.

"It's not that salaries are low, as surveys indicate pay is getting better…We're just not good at building national champions," said Ticoll who is also research fellow at the Knowledge Media Design Institute at the University of Toronto.

The ICTC chair was part of a four-person panel that discussed the Canadian and Ontario ICT job market in a presentation titled: State of the Nation/Jobs 2.0 – Action Agenda for Canada's Talent Crisis.

Other panelists were: Donna Henderson, principal of Toronto online media ad agency Henderson Bas; Brent Lowe-Bernie, president of Comscore Media Metrix, a media research firm in Toronto; and Courtney Pratt, chair and CEO of the Toronto Regional Research Alliance.

"Four years ago, I would have been talking to you about the threat of off-shoring. Today the number one concern for Canadian companies is where to find the IT talent that will help them grow their business," said Ticoll.

He touched on IT hiring issues such as: an aging technology workforce, the "dot com bust" of the early 1990s, failure of colleges and universities to inspire enrolments into science and computer courses, and the need to fill more than 89,000 IT positions in Canada in the next three to five years.

The shortage, he said, is exacerbated by the failure of decision makers in many organizations to realize the critical importance of a trained IT workforce.

Ticoll spoke of the gnawing concern of many ICT workers that "there's not much future in it for them."

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