We are constantly hearing there is dire need for skilled IT staff in NZ and there needs to be more focus placed on training students to join the “profession”.
I’m thinking that there might be a different and far worrying problem here. Perhaps the real reason for the skills shortage is that the modern world of IT is just too damn complicated?
Large organisations have been layering on years and years of silver bullet technologies in their IT infrastructures hoping to solve “today’s problems with tomorrow’s technology”.The effect of this has been to build incredibly complicated environments that require enormous levels of skill (or should I be saying wisdom?) to understand, never mind manage and maintain them.
No training scheme in the world can teach somebody the skills to understand these environments, you can either get your head around it or you can’t.
We may not be blessed with too many people who have these skills, but we are, sadly, blessed with many who are happy to gloss over those “mere details” and wreak havoc in the name of progress.
ADVICE: Perhaps the way to really solve the skills shortage is to start taking steps to simplify things rather than continue to add to the complexity?
I’ll talk about this problem of complexity at a later date.
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I couldn't agree more as far as the trend towards just buying the next 'you-beaut' thing from the technology vendors as means of solving a problem.
ReplyDeleteI spend the bulk of my working life trying to convince people that until they can understand and fix what is broken, they are wasting their time and money buying a replacement for the 'broken' thing. This can apply equally to hardware and software.
My motto, if it can be done simpler, it can be done better!
Skill is relatively easy to attain, nous isn't.
Bang on the money Alan! ... and too many business leaders (Exec's) gloss over the huge inherited complexity problems they have when it comes to implement new business projects as well. I am working with one customer now who basically sell their products to one industry silo, but have systems that are so complex and tightly coupled, that they rival those of the very large Bank I worked in previously. Too often solutions evolve from engineering roles that have a vested personal interest in trying the 'latest & greatest' technologies, and this continues unchecked to teh point the solution is delivered, and it becomes too costly and difficult to unwind the problem.
ReplyDeleteCould say something about the chasm between business architecture and IT architecture - but I won't.
ReplyDeleteI could say something about ask "should we" rather than "can we" - but I won't
I could use the "G" word (Governance) - but I won't