World tech skills shortage - where are the job ads?
Discussion
Morning all.
We seem to have a wide variety of disciplines and levels covered on PH, so thought I'd see what people think. We seem to relentlessly hear that the entire world has a labour shortage - particularly in tech skills. However, if companies were desperately keen to hire tech talent, one would think it would be made easier to find.
The usual UK job boards like Indeed contain few to none European listings. And, even browsing online for "euro tech jobs", you're met with handfuls of really obscure listings or a complete lack of the bread and butter stuff that floods the UK boards - e.g searches on common tech terms like "AWS", "Python", "Cisco, "Java", etc are met hardly any results.
Moreover, looking on the UK job boards specifically, a shortage of a particular skill would imply an increase in the cost in securing that skill - but that doesn't seem to be the case either. Some jobs are offering junior software engineers like £35k.... Jesus I was on that back in 2010 first job out of Uni - and that was in the "no jobs for graduates" era. It doesn't ring true.
Do you work for a firm with a shortage of skills, and if so, how are they trying to solve this? Are you in tech (or any other specific field) and flooded with job offers or are you finding that despite all the talk the job market seems quite stagnant?
We seem to have a wide variety of disciplines and levels covered on PH, so thought I'd see what people think. We seem to relentlessly hear that the entire world has a labour shortage - particularly in tech skills. However, if companies were desperately keen to hire tech talent, one would think it would be made easier to find.
The usual UK job boards like Indeed contain few to none European listings. And, even browsing online for "euro tech jobs", you're met with handfuls of really obscure listings or a complete lack of the bread and butter stuff that floods the UK boards - e.g searches on common tech terms like "AWS", "Python", "Cisco, "Java", etc are met hardly any results.
Moreover, looking on the UK job boards specifically, a shortage of a particular skill would imply an increase in the cost in securing that skill - but that doesn't seem to be the case either. Some jobs are offering junior software engineers like £35k.... Jesus I was on that back in 2010 first job out of Uni - and that was in the "no jobs for graduates" era. It doesn't ring true.
Do you work for a firm with a shortage of skills, and if so, how are they trying to solve this? Are you in tech (or any other specific field) and flooded with job offers or are you finding that despite all the talk the job market seems quite stagnant?
Edited by rawenghey on Tuesday 29th August 10:54
This may have been the case at the beginning of the year but recently things have turned south. There is still recruitment going on but the market is slower than it was a few months ago.
I'm sure there will be a few chiming in with a few personal anecdotes about how they just rolled from one job to another but the general market has quietened down.
I'm sure there will be a few chiming in with a few personal anecdotes about how they just rolled from one job to another but the general market has quietened down.
I find LinkedIn is good for job listings nowadays, that and directly on company websites. I've never found much of use on the job sites to be honest.
I've recently started to look elsewhere and there isn't a massive amount available, although I haven't properly looked as I am now for years admittedly. I do notice that my LinkedIn inbox is noticeably quieter than it was a few months ago, so maybe the poster above is right. Things have slowed a little recently.
I've recently started to look elsewhere and there isn't a massive amount available, although I haven't properly looked as I am now for years admittedly. I do notice that my LinkedIn inbox is noticeably quieter than it was a few months ago, so maybe the poster above is right. Things have slowed a little recently.
In the small corner of a niche that I work in we were used to having access to a large pool of EU-based perms and contractors to help deliver projects. Since that source dried up salaries and day rates went through the roof for the remaining talent pool.
Most of the bigger players have now introduced training schemes rather than just cannibalise from each other; hire a combination of new grads, client-side administrators, career changers etc who want to get into software consultancy. Pay them low 40s and expect most of them to be billable in six to nine months and on 60-70 after twelve months.
Repeat once a quarter.
ETA: almost all our recruitment comes from LinkedIn and an internal TA team.
Most of the bigger players have now introduced training schemes rather than just cannibalise from each other; hire a combination of new grads, client-side administrators, career changers etc who want to get into software consultancy. Pay them low 40s and expect most of them to be billable in six to nine months and on 60-70 after twelve months.
Repeat once a quarter.
ETA: almost all our recruitment comes from LinkedIn and an internal TA team.
At the general level the tech shortage is no more. Lots of layoffs over the past few months and a downturn generally have pulled the handbrake on. AI will clear away a lot of the body-shop bread and butter roles. There will always be niche areas that are relatively unaffected but things have dried up quickly.
We have been actively recruiting hard for expansion for the past three years and have recently slowed right back other than for specific roles as the wind has changed. It is gonna get cold out there. We are focusing in on R&D and training for existing staff so we are best placed for the upturn.
We have been actively recruiting hard for expansion for the past three years and have recently slowed right back other than for specific roles as the wind has changed. It is gonna get cold out there. We are focusing in on R&D and training for existing staff so we are best placed for the upturn.
QuartzDad said:
In the small corner of a niche that I work in we were used to having access to a large pool of EU-based perms and contractors to help deliver projects. Since that source dried up salaries and day rates went through the roof for the remaining talent pool.
Most of the bigger players have now introduced training schemes rather than just cannibalise from each other; hire a combination of new grads, client-side administrators, career changers etc who want to get into software consultancy. Pay them low 40s and expect most of them to be billable in six to nine months and on 60-70 after twelve months.
Repeat once a quarter.
ETA: almost all our recruitment comes from LinkedIn and an internal TA team.
Based on what my son tells me ^^^ is a fairly accurate summary (apart from the £60k-£70k after 12 months). When he graduated a couple of years ago firms were offering high-30's/low 40's for new grads. They were also offering £5k bonuses to anybody who could recruit somebody else, that's how desperate firms were to recruit. However, over the last 12 months things have appeared to quieten down significantly.Most of the bigger players have now introduced training schemes rather than just cannibalise from each other; hire a combination of new grads, client-side administrators, career changers etc who want to get into software consultancy. Pay them low 40s and expect most of them to be billable in six to nine months and on 60-70 after twelve months.
Repeat once a quarter.
ETA: almost all our recruitment comes from LinkedIn and an internal TA team.
For all of the people on PH on massive salaries who "employ graduates on £40K, then double it within the year", there are many thousands of people who are earning far less.
It does appear that skills shortages are a long term thing that took 20-30 years to appear in some industries.
Companies do appear to have started training people, rather than just expecting people (or, the person) with 15 years experience of a very niche industry to knock on the door.
It does appear that skills shortages are a long term thing that took 20-30 years to appear in some industries.
Companies do appear to have started training people, rather than just expecting people (or, the person) with 15 years experience of a very niche industry to knock on the door.
spikeyhead said:
Woodrow Wilson said:
How many people with those skills exist, though?
Go back forty years and it was probably a few tens of thousands. I'd guess that we're at about 20% of that now.I've been on both sides of this this year as a Java (predominantly) dev - I took voluntary redundancy earlier this year and have been trying to recruit also.
I'd have thought the market would be better for hiring, we ended up with some pretty crap candidates and had to sift through a lot of s
t before we found a very good guy. This was paying up to a 6 figure salary for the person so not as if we were low balling, although it's hybrid in London which not everyone wants.
I find I get approached a lot on LinkedIn still and also see ads on it. I've not been near the old school job boards for years now (CWJobs, Job serve etc).
I'd have thought the market would be better for hiring, we ended up with some pretty crap candidates and had to sift through a lot of s
t before we found a very good guy. This was paying up to a 6 figure salary for the person so not as if we were low balling, although it's hybrid in London which not everyone wants.I find I get approached a lot on LinkedIn still and also see ads on it. I've not been near the old school job boards for years now (CWJobs, Job serve etc).
So what’s the best tech skills to learn guys, I know it’s a question with a thousand answers but what do you guys trying to hire really see the lacks of skills?
I’m looking to self learn a career change into something computer science, I’m not sure if it’s possible but I’m going to give it a real good go!
I’m looking to self learn a career change into something computer science, I’m not sure if it’s possible but I’m going to give it a real good go!
Gooose said:
So what’s the best tech skills to learn guys, I know it’s a question with a thousand answers but what do you guys trying to hire really see the lacks of skills?
I’m looking to self learn a career change into something computer science, I’m not sure if it’s possible but I’m going to give it a real good go!
'Modern' infrastructure. DevOps, 'infrastructure as code', Ansible/Docker etc. There's a big shift to it and dinosoars like me just aren't interested, so there's a big skills gap to fill if you like writing code rather than plugging in cables.I’m looking to self learn a career change into something computer science, I’m not sure if it’s possible but I’m going to give it a real good go!
Gooose said:
So what’s the best tech skills to learn guys, I know it’s a question with a thousand answers but what do you guys trying to hire really see the lacks of skills?
I’m looking to self learn a career change into something computer science, I’m not sure if it’s possible but I’m going to give it a real good go!
You need to be careful. There’s a lot of very mediocre ‘talent’ in the market and we’ve become very choosy. For us, finding skilled IT folks with strong professional skills is the proverbial needle-in-the-haystack. I’m looking to self learn a career change into something computer science, I’m not sure if it’s possible but I’m going to give it a real good go!
Don’t become a Developer unless you are certain you have supreme natural aptitude and can position yourself in the top quartile. AI will quickly devalue anyone of mediocre ability - believe me, software engineering is the #1 target for this. In our org we have already seen 40% efficiency through new AI tools, and it will accelerate.
Infra and Ops jobs are typically offshore now and again AI and automation will eat a lot of that.
If you want to get into IT, I would self-learn data science, AI/ML and new GenAI tech (e.g. LLMs) accompanied with very strong Python skills. And make sure you are client-facing with strong professional skills… then you will stand out distinctly.
We only use LinkedIn and internal recruiters who probably only use LinkedIn/direct email to reach out to candidates.
The last 3-4 roles I've been offered were surfaced on LinkedIn, haven't used a recruiter for years, and haven't used a jobsite in a decade? Though I appreciate they were always better for technical roles than commercial where I sit.
TLDR - LinkedIn to find the role, apply on company website > follow up directly with people in recruitment team via LinkedIn. Has worked for me.
The last 3-4 roles I've been offered were surfaced on LinkedIn, haven't used a recruiter for years, and haven't used a jobsite in a decade? Though I appreciate they were always better for technical roles than commercial where I sit.
TLDR - LinkedIn to find the role, apply on company website > follow up directly with people in recruitment team via LinkedIn. Has worked for me.
okgo said:
We only use LinkedIn and internal recruiters who probably only use LinkedIn/direct email to reach out to candidates.
The last 3-4 roles I've been offered were surfaced on LinkedIn, haven't used a recruiter for years, and haven't used a jobsite in a decade? Though I appreciate they were always better for technical roles than commercial where I sit.
TLDR - LinkedIn to find the role, apply on company website > follow up directly with people in recruitment team via LinkedIn. Has worked for me.
this is similar for me, although I have found success on totaljobs etc but internal recruiters are a real breath of fresh air both sides of the coin. The last 3-4 roles I've been offered were surfaced on LinkedIn, haven't used a recruiter for years, and haven't used a jobsite in a decade? Though I appreciate they were always better for technical roles than commercial where I sit.
TLDR - LinkedIn to find the role, apply on company website > follow up directly with people in recruitment team via LinkedIn. Has worked for me.
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