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ICT - THE GIG ECONOMY

Gig economy: picture by Photo by Mathieu Stern

Remote work, gig work raises

questions around skills and

on-the-job experience in IT

he widespread acceptance of opportunities. Nobody indicated they were not interested in international opportunities.
hybrid work and international Forty seven percent said their main reason for working remotely for international firms
Tworkforces raises questions would be to gain international experience, 42% wanted to earn foreign currency while
around whether a gig economy will living at home in South Africa and 10% were motivated by networking with international
favour only those IT professionals who IT leaders. None said they would seek international work because there were insufficient
already have workplace experience, opportunities locally.
and how young professionals will gain The webinar also polled employers participating in the event and found that around
practical knowledge working in isolation. half are now making more use of remote, international workers, with 25% saying this
This emerged during a webinar alleviated skills shortages, 50% saying it somewhat eased their skills shortages, and 25%
hosted by the Institute of Information saying it did not address their skills challenges. To counter the risk of losing their skilled
Technology Professionals South Africa workers to international firms, 16% said they were offering employees more flexibility,
(IITPSA) and the authors of the 2022 and 50% were improving skills development and experience opportunities.
JCSE-IITPSA ICT Skills Survey, Prof.
Barry Dwolatzky, director of the JCSE at
Wits University, and Adrian Schofield,
production consultant at the IITPSA.
Aiming to unpack what a borderless
world of work will mean for IT, the
webinar discussed the changes that
might be expected in IT working
environments and skills development in a
new world of work.
Polls of participants found that 80%
are now looking for opportunities to
work for international companies for
the first time, while 14% already work
for international companies and 4% The authors of the 2022 JCSE-IITPSA ICT Skills Survey, Prof. Barry Dwolatzky, Director of the JCSE
said they would not know where to find at Wits University, and Adrian Schofield, production consultant at the IITPSA.

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