How the Tech Industry Can Fix Its Own Staff Shortages

As Australia’s skills shortage rages on, employers in all sectors are really feeling the pinch. It’s become such a concern that one of the first actions our newly-elected government took was to introduce a new bill aimed at addressing the “urgent skills crisis”.

We’re certainly seeing the effects of it in the tech field; particularly in our nation’s capital. New data on Australia’s tech boom shows the tech workforce is growing by 5.5% every year, with over 1.2 million people expected to be working in the field by 2027.

This is happening at a time when there’s also a huge reduction in the migration of tech talent – be it from overseas or interstate. As opposed to the fly-in fly-out contractor arrangements of the past, remote working now means people don’t have to move where the work is because the work comes to them.

Times are tough. However, in the case of tech, not all of it is a symptom of current events. Considered from a different perspective, it’s clear that the potential for a skills shortage has been brewing for some time.

The “Get in, get out” mindset of tech roles

For decades now, work in the tech field has been viewed as mostly project based. Contractors are brought in to help deliver a project or program of work before moving on to the next.

During their engagement, little is done to fully utilise their knowledge or skills for the benefit of the person and the organisation long term. When the contract ends, little thought is put to where that person could add value within a different context.

This “get in, get out” mentality has created an industry culture devoid of long-term development and knowledge sharing, which are necessary to speed up the growth of the next generation of tech leaders.

Fortunately, there are things employers and tech professionals can do to address these issues – and they would go a long way towards alleviating skills shortages in the future.

What employers can do

Employers of tech professionals are constantly having to push the bar in terms of what they offer to secure the candidates they need. But instead of always waiting for the perfect person and paying a mint to engage them, why not create them?

This would require a pivot away from transactional, transient, and short-term contracts for pre-defined project work, towards embedded and longer term engagements that account for the wider tech needs of the business.

It would also involve looking for ways to optimise the value of contracted tech professionals by:

• Investing in learning and development for juniors
• Encouraging senior tech contractors to be mentors
• Exploring possibilities to share technical resources between departments
• Empowering and upskilling junior workers to take on extra lower skilled technical and BAU work so senior contractors can focus on complex tasks

Put simply, knowledge sharing becomes the aim of the game. When given the opportunity to upskill existing staff, skilled tech contractors can help to uplift capability and maturity across teams.

What tech professionals can do

There is a lot that senior tech professionals can do to give back within their field.

For example, if you adopt a long-term mindset regardless of the length of your contract, you will always be on the lookout for how to provide more value. This could be as simple as teaching or upskilling team mates how to do something new, or engaging in mentorship with more junior staff.

Don’t be afraid to speak up if you believe your skills could be used more effectively. For example, if 60% of your time is spent on low-level tasks, this is costing the business needlessly. Look for solutions that would allow you to spend more time on complex work and then discuss them. Ultimately, you are helping the organisation achieve a better ROI while increasing your capacity to do more challenging work.

Lastly, always try to leave a job and organisation better than you found it. Passing on your knowledge is how you develop a great reputation, leave a legacy, and contribute to the future of your field. And the more you do this, the more your reputation builds in the market which makes you more employable.

It’s not a quick fix, but it’s a positive start

While these strategies will not immediately resolve the skills shortage, they will help to repair it from the inside out over time. Let’s stop seeing technical gurus as guns for hire, but as a valuable part of an organisation worthy of investment and in a position to uplift capability well into the future.

Establishing an internal community of practice – regardless of whether someone is a contractor or permanent employee – will enable more learning and development, upskilling, and knowledge sharing.

Combined, these will provide employers with a better ROI, enhance employee experience, and create the foundations for tech success within a business as well as broadly across the industry.

To chat about how you can get more out of your career as a tech professional, or for help finding skilled candidates for your organisation, get in touch.