Are Federal CIOs to Blame?

An article in CIO Insight, states that CIOs, especially those in large companies, are to blame for the IT skills shortage; and if they were serious about ending the shortage they would make more investments in IT training. This correlates with my post, Training Anyone?" which suggests that agency CIOs should invest much more in training for their IT professionals.

The annual CIO survey recently released by ITAA and Grant Thornton again points to some of these very same issues elucidated by the CIO Insight article, but highlights the special concerns found in the federal environment. Agency CIOs are hampered by their lack of funding and agency commitment for training and staffing resources.

The “Blame” article also points out that IT executives are frustrated by the lack of skilled workers coming out of the university system, ill-prepared to function in the business world. In fact, federal agencies are lucky to be able to recruit and hire graduates of the Scholarship for Service Program. This program was designed to prepare students to graduate with specific knowledge and skills in IT Security and Information Assurance that would transfer immediately in the workplace.

Finally, “Blame” advises that many companies treat employees as disposable and fewer than half of large companies are successful in creating specific career paths. Again, federal agencies may have an advantage. The CIO Council’s IT Workforce Committee has created an IT Career Development Roadmap to assist IT Professionals in government to build long-term career progression plans.