Skip to main content

Digital Transformation Developer Skills Gap Assessment

Most savvy CEOs already know it requires accomplished talent to lead a digital transformation agenda. The execution of the key strategies often results in the development of software capabilities. That said, finding and retaining the qualified technical talent is likely to be one of the big challenges facing business leaders.

We're in the early stages of a software developer skills shortage, according the the latest Cloud Foundry global perception study. The majority of their survey respondents say there's a looming shortage of skilled developers. Most already feel the impact. They're having difficulty hiring and retaining technical staff.


Key Findings from the study include:

  • The majority (64%) of IT professionals and business executives agree that the developer shortage is a real threat to progress.
  • Most respondents (57%) state that this shortage has already impacted their ability to hire skilled people. The developer shortage is most acutely felt by companies just beginning to take advantage of the cloud or starting digital transformation -- the "early majority" or "pragmatists" (51%).
  • Those companies further along the journey -- the “early adopters” or “visionaries” who are out front on cloud technology adoption -- are less likely to feel the impact of the developer shortage (32%).
  • Companies are prioritizing specialized skills. Mobile app development, coding in specific languages, and deploying on specific platforms are the most in demand.
  • Fundamental cloud DevOps skills, such as continuous delivery, continuous integration, test-driven development and 12-factor application architecture, are currently in lesser demand.
  • As companies move further along their cloud journey, however, their demand for these fundamental DevOps related skills increases.
  • Companies are predominantly choosing to train their existing staff over hiring or outsourcing.
  • Leveraging a broad array of techniques, companies use training to ensure their workforce is able to keep up-to-date on ever-changing technologies.

This research highlights that today the developer skills shortage is very real, and will be more acute in the coming months and years. With the near-term focus on immediate problems -- such as mobile application development -- many organizations can't easily take advantage of the benefits from cloud technologies.

Meanwhile, the evolving demand for DevOps practices has created an opportunity for IT vendors that are capable of offering cloud computing training and associated professional services, to assist client organizations in filling their assessed skills gap.

The study, conducted in the third quarter of 2016, investigated whether there is a shortage of developers with cloud skills; which specific skills are lacking in the modern enterprise; and how companies are addressing this gap. The resulting Cloud Foundry report details the current state of cloud skills availability worldwide.

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Talent Demand Exceeds Supply in Asia-Pac

Even the savviest CEO's desire for a digital transformation advantage has to face the global market reality -- there simply isn't enough skilled and experienced talent available to meet demand. According to the latest market study by IDC, around 60-80 percent of Asia-Pacific (AP) organizations find it "difficult" or "extremely difficult" to fill many IT roles -- including cybersecurity, software development, and data insight professionals. Major consequences of the skills shortage are increased workload on remaining digital business and IT employees, increased security risks, and loss of "hard-to-replace" critical transformation knowledge. Digital Business Talent Market Development Although big tech companies' layoffs are making headlines, they are not representative of the overall global marketplace. Ongoing difficulty to fill key practitioner vacancies is still among the top issues faced by leaders across industries. "Skills are difficul
Read more

Mobile Device Market Still Awaiting Recovery

The mobile devices market has experienced three years of unpredictable demand. The global pandemic, geopolitical pressures, supply chain issues, and macroeconomic headwinds have hindered the sector's consistent growth potential. This extremely challenging environment has dramatically affected both demand and supply chains. It has led to subsequent inflationary pressures, leading to a worsening global cost of living crisis suppressing growth and confidence in the sector. In tandem, mobile device industry stakeholders have become more cautious triggering market uncertainties. Mobile Device Market Development Operating under such a backdrop, the development of mobile device ecosystems and vendor landscapes have been impacted severely. Many of these market pressures persisted throughout 2022 and now into 2023, borne chiefly by the smartphone market. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, worldwide smartphone shipments in 2022 declined 9.6 percent Year-over-Year
Read more

Global Digital Business and IT Consulting Outlook

Across the globe, CEOs and their leadership teams continue to seek information and guidance about planned Digital Transformation initiatives and the most effective enterprise organization change management practices. Worldwide IT and Business Services revenue will grow from $1.13 trillion in 2022 to $1.2 trillion in 2023 -- that's a 5.7 percent year-over-year growth, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The mid-term to long-term outlook for the market has also increased -- the five-year CAGR is forecast at 5.2 percent, compared to the previous 4.9 percent. Digital Sevices & Consulting Market Development IDC has raised the growth projection despite a weak economic outlook, because of vendor performances across 2022, growth indicators from adjacent markets, increased government funding, and inflation impacts. The actual 2022 market growth was 6.7 percent (in constant currency), which was 87 basis points higher than forecast last year, alth
Read more