Where are all the talented IT people hiding?

We have recently been on the hunt for IT people to join the team at Dotted Eyes but have been shocked at the lack of IT talent out there. You’d think in today’s economic climate there would be lots of great IT graduates screaming out for work. So where are they?

We’ve tried all possible routes to finding them, including agencies, job boards, local universities and social media, but to no avail. From a single job advert we recently received over 150 CVs. Great response you’d think! But after sifting through them all, only four were worth calling and one bringing in for interview. What was even more frustrating was the one we interviewed failed at the first hurdle – he didn’t even know what we did! Surely the golden rule of any interview is to research the company first.

So are we asking for too much? It’s true we don’t want your stereotypical IT guy. We need someone who will fit with the innovative and fast paced culture of Dotted Eyes. We want someone who’s got a bit about them. Someone who is able to think beyond the code they write in and put themselves in the mindset of the customer to create solutions that are great. At Dotted Eyes we need people who are constantly pushing the boundaries and above all are passionate about what they do.

But what are we finding – very few great candidates.  That’s why the recent news that IT will be playing a bigger part of the new national curriculum in 2014 is music to our ears. We hear children as young as 5 will be writing computer programmes. Fantastic! We need more people taking an interest in this area and coming out of school with the skills that businesses, like us at Dotted Eyes, actually need. What better way to develop this talent than to nurture these skills from an early age.

This doesn’t solve the problem we have now though so maybe Universities need to be playing a bigger role in providing graduates not just with technical capabilities but also the softer skills for business. We need people that are ready to innovate, think commercially and make a difference.

Written by Mike Talbutt, Head of Delivery at Dotted Eyes (10th July 2013)