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Mid-career training, the answer to the IT skills gap?

SkillsTrain, said “When making their A-level and university choices students are often not aware of the kind of job opportunities out there.

This year there’s been a 10% drop in A-level Computing alone compared with the previous academic year, yet the IT industry faces a skills crisis, with severe shortages in senior programming positions and industry bodies still reporting software engineers, technical support staff and systems designers in particularly short supply.

Unlike older professions, such as accountancy or medicine, career routes are less well defined and there’s no single accreditation scheme or entry examinations to help workers move up the career ladder. IT workers often find themselves moving into computing from other sectors, or turning a hobby and experience into a IT career. Although they can develop their skills while working, they won’t have the skills validation employers often expect for promotion.”

To meet the growth in popularity of enterprise-ready platforms, SkillsTrain have also just launched a new `Linux+’ course which leads to the CompTIA Linux+ examination.

SkillsTrain said “This is typical of the accreditation we need to be encouraging more IT workers to take, so that they can actually develop their skills and demonstrate their knowledge and it if can’t start at A-level or University, the mid-career training or career changes with a new start in vocational training has to be the answer”.