Page 10 - EngineerIT July 2022

ICT SKILLS

South African companies ignore

junior tech talent at their peril

Businesses that diversify their talent pipeline to include both university and bootcamp
graduates stand a better chance of finding software engineers with scarce skills.

t may be time for hiring managers to reconsider the qualifications they require when
recruiting technical skills. This is according to Stephen van der Heijden, VP of Growth at
IOfferZen, a developer job marketplace helping companies in Africa and Europe accelerate
their developer hiring.
He says that for the longest time, the local IT industry required formal IT qualifications,
such as a four-year university degree, for their entry level technical positions.
“However, we’re seeing that shorter, more focused training interventions such as coding
bootcamps are creating new talent pools. In addition to university grads and self-taught
developers, bootcamp graduates must be part of your talent strategy if you’re a company
competing for tech talent, which is almost every company today. Instead, expand the
metrics you’re using to identify quality developers beyond the usual degree or years of
coding experience. Find people of all backgrounds, and give them a real chance.”
With the continuing shortage of technical skills across the world, even large companies
- once the first choice of developers and engineers - are struggling to recruit and retain
people with development skills.
“Our 2022 Software Engineering Hiring Trends in South Africa Report showed that the Stephen van der Heijden
great resignation has not missed South Africa. Thirty two percent of developers surveyed
had been in their jobs for less than a year and 30% are looking to change jobs in the next where a platform that relies on humans
year,” says van der Heijden. “This fluidity in the job market is making it more difficult to retain to curate each candidate for quality,
people with specialised skills, and traditional hiring practices aren’t helping the situation.” before standardising their profiles so
He adds that while a computer science degree remains a critical part of building that they’re easy to review and compare,
software developer skills, many hiring managers simply use this degree as a way to filter offers particular value. It reduces
candidates because they find it difficult to assess technical skills. the barrier for companies to match
candidates to open opportunities, and
Assessing developer certifications exposes a wider pool of candidates to
“The problem with using specific degrees to filter out candidates is that companies are missing new jobs, he adds.
out on a large pool of talent. For instance, we know that a third of local developers studied For companies scrambling to find
fields other than computer science and one in four developers are self-taught,” he says. skilled individuals, bootcamps and
In the absence of a global standard for developer certification, it comes down to how non-traditional tech education have the
hiring managers assess a developer’s resume and skills, which can be difficult when CVs potential to provide a more diverse set of
are all different or of a poor quality. This is a significant hurdle which also undermines the potential employees - talent that is hungry
impact that coding bootcamps can have on reducing unemployment and increasing skills for opportunities - and a way to tap into
building in South Africa, he says. the latest technology trends.
OfferZen is a community-first job
The ‘right now’ skills marketplace that helps companies
Van der Heijden adds that the bootcamp model also brings advantages because they enable accelerate their developer hiring. To
people to quickly upgrade their skills. While university curricula are focused on creating do this, our platform connects curated,
foundational knowledge, bootcamps can provide the skills that are needed now. actively-searching developers with exciting
“More importantly, bootcamps combine theory with practical application, which means job opportunities at over 2000 companies
graduates are equipped to solve real world problems. The more we can bridge the gap in Africa and Europe.
between learning to code and solving problems with code, the better,” he says. Developers on OfferZen are vetted for
It’s this ability to build a pool of expertise in emerging technologies that is a key reason intent to change jobs and are encouraged
why hiring managers shouldn’t dismiss bootcamp graduates out of hand. With technological to respond to interview requests within
change continuing to accelerate, companies don’t just need access to more skills, they need 48 hours, giving companies on OfferZen an
access to the right skills. average of 25 days to hire. n
He advises that standardising candidate profiles is the best way for companies to
assess candidates from traditional and non-traditional educational backgrounds. This is Email address: hello@offerzen.com

EngineerIT | July 2022 | 8