Survey Suggests: Shortage of IT and Cyber Security Industry Talent Linked to Cost and Availability of Training

SOURCE: CybraryIT

Greenbelt, MD. – February 10, 2015 – When it comes to how companies are approaching IT training for their employees, most have significant training requirements, and many predict the demand for available IT training will grow over the next year, while the bulk of them want employees with security compliance and governance skills. The costs associated with IT training, however, present a considerable barrier to meeting these needs, according to survey published today by Cybrary.

When Cybrary, the world’s first and only tuition-free massive open online course (MOOC) for IT and cyber security, asked 405 senior-level technology professionals about their companies’ plans for IT training in 2015, 61 percent said employees in their company need it, while 55 percent predicted an increased need this year and beyond for available IT training for employees. Security compliance and governance, followed by programming and app development and business intelligence and analytics, ranked as the top IT skills desired by hiring managers in 2015.

About 42 percent of companies plan to hire more IT staff over the next year, 40 percent weren’t sure about hiring needs, and the remainder said they had no plans to hire. Most companies plan to spend the same amount of money on IT training for 2015 as they did in 2014, which accounts for as much as 10 percent of overall IT budgets. Less than a quarter allocate 10 to 20 percent of their IT budgets to training, while 11 percent said they don’t provide any money for IT training because it’s too expensive.

“The data we’ve compiled suggests that companies do not provide enough means for IT training, despite a lack of IT talent and ever-increasing technology and cyber security challenges,” said Ryan Corey, co-founder, Cybrary. “Additionally, the current state of IT training makes it very difficult for employees to advance in their careers and for people to break into the IT industry, thereby eliminating a lot of talent from the start.”

The greatest impediment to IT training is cost, according to respondents, while 35 percent cited a lack of other resources, including time and staff. Another obstacle was lack of management buy-in. When companies do invest in IT training for employees, it’s predominantly for those who need it (41 percent), and often just for those in IT. More than 50 percent believe the cost of quality IT training will climb in 2015.The most important and/or popular areas for training are in security, Microsoft, and Cisco, followed by CompTIA and VMWare.

In terms of what makes for a preferred IT training environment, most respondents want a reputable company, variety in content and courses, affordability, and collaboration with other IT learners.  According to Corey, IT and cyber security professionals enjoy sharing industry accomplishments and knowledge, making collaborative learning a critical element in IT training.

Cybrary conducted this survey from November 2014 – January 2015. For a complete copy of the results, click here.

About Cybrary.IT

Founded in 2015, Cybrary.IT gives aspiring and practicing IT professionals what they have long deserved and been denied:  access to free, high-quality, open-source and results-focused IT and cyber security training that will help start and advance their careers. A MOOC provider whose top managers have nearly 15 years of experience in IT training, Cybrary.IT offers free online training to anyone, anywhere and at every skill level in systems administration, network administration and cyber security. For more information on how Cybrary.IT is liberating IT knowledge by liberating training, visit http://www.cybrary.it/.