How I Went In Search Of The IT Gap

 

OK, we all know the story, or at least those of us trying to hire people with IT skills do – there’s not enough people out there to hire! We can’t find anyone. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria, and those empty desks that should be filled with busy geeks.

If you haven’t heard this complaint you’re A) lucky, B) ignorant, C) a liar, or D) better at hiring than a lot of people – a whole lot of people.

For over a year I’ve been hearing that there’s some kind of IT hiring gap. This isn’t new of course, complaint about some kind of “skills gap” goes back for years in many fields.  I think I’ve been hearing about this for about four years, even when unemployment was higher.

However among these claims I’d occasionally hear a dissenting voice. That there’s not a gap, or that these claims were ways to get in cheap H1B visa employees, or someone had no trouble in hiring and just thought this was BS.  It made me wonder if this is for real.

Let’s face it, it’s important to know what the heck is actually going on in IT.  IT is vital to the economy.  It’s  close to we geeks who are so tied to technology industries and areas. Some of us want a damn job and we’d like to know what’s going ob.  Some of us are trying to hire people and want to know why it isn’t working.  If this gap is BS then people claiming there is one are ignorant, deceptive, or both and we’ like to know.

So is there an IT Gap, where we don’t have enough people to do the IT jobs of today?

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ITIL Certification And You

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Well, I’m pleased to say I have my ITIL Certification – well, the foundation. Hold your applause while you go surf the web to find out what the hell I’m actually talking about.

Now as everyone knows, I’m big on certifications. They show skills, they force you to study, they look good on a resume because they show commitment and knowledge. I can say in my experience that having those extra letters after my name has been great for my career (and takes a lot of effort).

When I first started looking into the ITIL at my manager’s request, I wasn’t sure what it was. Later, I found it was extremely useful, very educational, and something I wish I’d know about earlier. I wanted to share my experiences because this might be something for you.

OK, look, stop surfing, I’m going to explain it.

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