The shortage of software engineers, not only in the US but the whole world is no breaking news. For years, the IT Talent crisis with millions of unfilled tech jobs has saturated the industry news everywhere. Take a look at Gartner’s emerging risks in their Quarter 3 of 2018 report: They have estimated and warned about a talent shortage, defining this trend as one of the top 5 emerging risks organizations globally will have to face. The risk topped the list the following quarter and remained in the top 5 for four consecutive quarters. (Once a risk has been in the top 4 consecutive quarters, it’s no longer considered emerging and removed)

Among all the chaos, this graph showed that 63% of senior executives said the talent shortage, including the shortage of software engineers, was a key concern.

But why? Universities and colleges everywhere have been promoting Computer Science and STEM majors for so long that according to Bestcolleges, in the period of 2017 – 2018, postsecondary institutions awarded 79,600 bachelor’s degrees in computer and information sciences in the US only. Let’s discover the situation, its impact, and how businesses all over the globe can cope with it!

The Shortage of Software Engineers Situation

According to Code.org, with 500,000 open computing positions in this nation, the figure for 79,600 bachelor’s degrees graduated a year in computer and information sciences in the US is nothing but chopped liver. In the last 2020, the available seats for this position have exceeded qualified applicants by a million, which widens the gap even more.

Below is some statistic about software engineers shortage to give you a better view:

• According to the research done by ACT (The App Association), there are over 220,000 job openings in the US. The number of job openings has exceeded the number of qualified applicants by a huge gap, resulting in real-life challenges to find the right talent for companies.
• In 2020, many tech organizations are now turning to non-traditional applicants and internal training to fill their talent gaps.
• About 58% of STEM students who majored in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics are in computing. However, only 8% of STEM graduates actually have a degree in Computer Science.
• With this current pace, it might take about 8 years to match the open job roles.

The talent shortage of software developers is only a small part of the whole story. Employers face many more challenges when it comes to the Software Development industry. This is because even when companies manage to find a pool of talented software developers to recruit, there are challenges that can put them into a dilemma of which to choose, because both choices had their obvious disadvantages, or make them turn to third-world countries for the best solutions. These challenges are:

• Their IT Talent pool is not experienced enough 
• The shortlisted talents don’t have all of the technical skills needed.
• They lack soft skills 
• They lack requested formal education
• If they have everything you are looking for, their salary demands tend to be outrageous

Let’s explore everything about this!

Shortlisted software developers don’t have enough experience

Let’s face it: the new software developer graduates are new to the marketplace. Yes, they have everything, internship, and formal training, but real industrial experiences are one of the most important aspects. Even though companies can have open slots for inexperienced software developers, they know for a fact that they can’t expect high-quality work to be done by them in the next months or even years.

The reason is simple: new graduates are not problem-solvers. Thus, your IT team will have to spend more time explaining everything to them than doing actual work. It’s not cost-effective.

In most cases, the shortage of software engineers exists, not because of an overall shortage of talent. It exists because companies are now having a shortage of qualified engineering talents. 

They don’t have all of the technical skills needed

When searching for new software developers for your company, you will realize that more often than not, most of these potential candidates don’t have the technical skill needed to complete the necessary work.

This is because a software developer can be skillful in one field and might be lacking in another. Depending on your project’s requirements, he may do well in the current job but lack the necessary knowledge and skills to do the next two projects.

What you need to do is to put these people to the test, and have them talk to the HR department carefully so that you don’t end up with the wrong person.

They don’t have soft skills

To put it simply, technical skills and soft skills complement each other. Soft skills are no inferior to technical skills, especially in the Software Development industry where projects must be done in teams to ensure maximized results. Think about it: your HR finds a great software developer who simply doesn’t like talking to people, this leads to no thought sharing, no project direction explanation, and so on – basically no teamwork and communication. And with this, your project might end up being a mess. This is especially true when it comes to larger projects.

Soft skills are vital because working for a software development company isn’t solo work. People are diverse, and they can only complement each other with their work as long as they have soft skills in the first place.

They don’t have formal education

The majority of schools in the world, including the US, don’t teach computer science. With over half (58%) of all new jobs being STEM jobs (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), clearly, schools around the world are not adapting well. 

Kids can only start to learn about Computer Science until they get to college. In the short span of only 3 to 4 years, they learn to understand algorithms and data structures. They have experience with compilers and interpreters. They are trained in OS theory; they know how operating systems software works, and they understand different architectures. 

Lacking formal training, they will lack the needed mindset to think of innovative solutions and their works.

The salary demands of those who are skilled and experienced are outrageous

With so much demand for software developers and such a small pool to choose from, they are free to demand high salaries for their services. Everyone needs to be paid well for their work, but companies have to secure their stability first.

With all these challenges and what should companies around the world to successfully manage the software developer pool talent when hiring software developers?

The answer is simple: Get rid of the talent shortage of software developers by hiring abroad. Instead, choose to outsource.

Vietnam – Your ultimate Thriving Tech Hub

According to the research of AT Kearney’s 2019 Global Services Location Index (GSLI 2019), Vietnam is among the top 5 IT service providers. Based on 3 main factors which are financial attractiveness, people skills and availability, and business environment, Vietnam has surpassed Brazil to reach level 5. The research also shows that big companies in the world continue to select Vietnam as an attractive location to invest in. In fact, Japanese companies use services in Vietnam for ITO and BPO.

Vietnam has a growing highly skilled workforce dedicated to improving English proficiency to compete for better services.

See Reasons to choose IT software outsourcing Vietnam

• Get your free action plan at: Starting A Project-Based Outsourcing From Scratch: Complete Action Plan And 5 Common Mistakes To Avoid.
• What other options do you have? Download free whitepaper of Top countries for IT outsourcing.

According to Mr. Nguyen Trung Chinh, Chairman/CEO of CMC Corporation, enterprises play a vital role in turning Vietnam into the region’s Digital Hub. Therefore, CMC has launched COPE2N an ecosystem for enterprises around the world with the purpose of sharing digital resources. This initiative is promised to attract more international businesses to choose Vietnam as their destination.

Vietnam is on its way to becoming the leading IT service provider in the region. With a highly-skilled IT workforce and a developing tech ecosystem, Vietnam cannot be a better destination for international customers.