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IT Insights: 149,000 unfilled IT positions in Germany, but the problem is home-grown! (BITKOM survey)

The annual skills shortage survey from BITKOM, the German industry association for IT and telecommunications, has come out. BITKOM has run this survey for over a decade. And the insights are always thrilling. *sarcasm off*

The fact that, yet again, the number of positions that companies were unable to fill has risen is by no means a surprise. This pattern of rising numbers has only been disrupted once significantly — by the pandemic.

One would think that mass layoffs would an effect. But we see none of that in the statistics:

It also doesn’t come as a any surprise that it usually takes a whopping 7.7 months to fill an IT position. Nor is it unusual that positions in IT are harder to fill than, let’s say, in HR.

What is astonishing is the source of qualification. Unlike in many other countries, specifically those with a strong IT sector, only a small share of IT experts graduated from an institution of higher education (16%) or at least attended one (17%).

The growing trend of career changers is manifested in 23% of positions in IT being filled with them.

A mainstay of German qualification schemes, the vocational training, takes the top spot with 44%. I can’t help but be a bit cynical given that, for years, the number of trainees has not kept up with the increase in students.

At the very end of the survey BITKOM recommends to motivate experts to work longer. But why don’t we get future experts into their jobs earlier?

German vocational training is famous for being able to provide the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, the quality has been lacking for quite some time. Maybe this is one of the reasons that not more positions are filled?

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Franziska Hauck - tech (people) {code}
Franziska Hauck - tech (people) {code}

Written by Franziska Hauck - tech (people) {code}

Franziska Hauck is a people strategist with a focus on tech/product/data/ux. tech (people) {code} is her hub for all things human in tech & Germany IT insights.

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