Skills shortage has been in the news for quite some time now. The VDI (Verband Deutscher Ingenieure – association of german engineers) has recently conducted a survey questioning 450 experts from various fields in the IT sector and came to the conclusion that the skills shortage in the IT sector is viewed as a serious problem.

According to the annual survey the biggest lack of experts is found in the field of software development, followed by IT-project management, IT-security, Consulting and Support. The hardware sector is not facing serious shortages in human ressources.

So what is done to counteract these growing shortages, that are thought to increase even further until 2015: Development programmes for young talents are essential on the long run. By now companies are already finding ways to solve the problem e.g. by hiring specialised staff from abroad, by providing professional training and development for their employees or by outsourcing of services.

Eventhough the skills shortage is likely to exacerbate over the next years, 2/3 of the respondents view the location of  Germany in terms of business and industry as good or very good.

The trend of skills shortage might be problematic for some, but especially for freelancing experts it might also bring full order books. Even better if those freelancers are specialised in the fields that are having a great potential for growth: cloud computing, IT-security, embedded systems and broadband infrastructure.

Based on VDI: http://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/vdi-nachrichten/aktuelle_ausgabe/akt_ausg_detail.asp?cat=1&id=52095&source=rubrik