The State of the Digital Tech Workforce Survey Trend Report

• Canam Research partnered with Catalyte to conduct The State of the Digital Tech Workforce Survey • To date, over 65 IT & Human Resources professionals have participated

• The challenges experienced recruiting software development talent

• How their organization has attempted to solve skills gaps & talent shortages

• Whether offshoring produces acceptable results

• Whether having diverse teams impacts outcomes

Executive Summary

Research focused on the: Respondents titles include:

VP IT, 45%

VP HR,10%

CIO / CTO / CHRO, 19.7%

Sr. Manager, 12%

Director, 13%

Lack of qualified candidates is the biggest issue– Over 50% of respondents indicated that “not enough qualified candidates” is their biggest roadblock to hiring software development talent. Over 40% indicated that their pay rates are not competitive.

63.49% of respondents indicated that they have utilized tech apprenticeships and boot camps to fill skills gaps. About 20% of respondents are using AI and screening tools to identify talent.

Over 43% of respondents were of the opinion that offshore outsourcing does not produce results that meet their requirements.

Over 50% of respondents believe that diverse teams deliver better outcomes such as faster development cycles, fewer bugs, and better functionality.

Key Observations

48% of respondents are somewhat dissatisfied with their company’s current program to develop new sources of technology talent.

Rate how satisfied you are with your company's current program to develop new sources of technology talent.

Not enough qualified candidates is overall the biggest issue affecting efforts to recruit developers, followed by inadequate pay rates and lack of resources to develop junior talent.

What are the biggest roadblocks to hiring software development talent for your company? (select all that apply)

Not enough qualified candidates 50.75%

Pay rates are not competitive 40.30%

Insufficient resources/time to develop junior talent 37.31%

Location (the business is not where the talent is) 28.36%

H1-B visa availability 19.40%

Overall satisfaction with talent development is low with over 60% indicating some level of dissatisfaction.

How satisfied are you with your company’s program to develop new sources of technology talent?

Not surprisingly IT and HR are the groups most likely to be responsible for solving the skills gap issue and meeting demand. It is interesting to note that the executive suite at a significant number of companies are tackling the issue.

Who has primary responsibility for solving skills gap problems and meeting demand?

Over 60% of companies have used tech apprenticeships and boot camps to fill skills gaps. The most common response for “other” were partnerships with colleges and universities which would indicate major interest in developing net new talent

What novel approaches are being used to solve the skills gap issue?

Over 60% of companies have used tech apprenticeships and boot camps to fill skills gaps. The most common response for “other” were partnerships with colleges and universities which would indicate major interest in developing net new talent.

(alt) What novel approaches are being used to solve the skills gap issue?

Tech apprenticeship programs or software boot camps 63.49%

Freelance networks 28.57%

Other (partnerships, temp workers, hackathon’s, etc) 23.81%

AI and screening tools to identify talent 19.05%

The talent shortage is affecting some important areas such Customer Experience and Digital Transformation initiatives though relatively few respondents believe it is affecting revenue.

Has your organization experienced any of the following due to talent shortages in software development? (check all that apply)

The talent shortage is affecting some important areas such Customer Experience and Digital Transformation initiatives though relatively few respondents believe it is affecting revenue.

(alt) Has your organization experienced any of the following due to talent shortages in software development? (check all that apply)

Shadow IT projects (departments hiring outside technical resources to get what they want)

59.38%

Stalled or non-scalable Digital Transformation initiatives 57.81%

Reduced Customer Experience/not meeting CX KPIs 43.75%

Lost revenue or reduced sales performance 18.75%

Failure to meet compliance requirements 14.06%

Other (please specify) 10.94%

On average software is mostly delivered by in-house teams that are augmented either by contractors and near- shore or offshore teams.

By percentage what are the ways your organization delivers software now?

Hiring FTEs is the clear preference for filling skills gaps followed by investing in training and hiring contractors or consultants. Companies do invest in outsourcing, but it’s not the preferred way to fill skills gaps.

How do companies prefer to fill talent gaps in their software development organization?

Attitudes were split on the value of offshoring with many believing that it works well and a virtually equal number saying that it does not produce adequate results.

How well does offshore outsourcing produce results that meet requirements?

Over 50% of respondents believe in the value of diverse teams and indicated that there is a big impact on outcomes such as faster development cycles, fewer bugs and better functionality.

Do you believe diverse teams deliver better outcomes?

The majority of organizations appear to be making an effort to promote diversity by having defined goals and policies and taking action to achieve goals.

How would you describe your efforts to promote diversity in your IT organization?

Most companies believe that efforts to achieve diversity are effective with over 40% indicating that they are either “Effective” or “Very Effective” at achieving diversity in the technology organizations. No surprise since most organizations also believe that diversity delivers better outcomes.

How effective has your company been at achieving diversity in the technology organization?

Respondents have a significant preference for hiring their own FTEs, Talent Development Strategies and Training. Clearly companies want to control their destiny when it comes to talent and plan to invest in recruiting and training to achieve that goal.

In the next 12-months what will you focus on to solve talent shortages?

Hiring more FTEs 65.67%

Increased investments in training 52.24%

New talent development strategies such as apprenticeships or boot-camps

50.75%

Increased investments in tools to improve efficiency 50.75%

Increased use of offshore outsourcing 23.88%

Increased use of onshore outsourcing 17.91%

Thank you!

For over 18 years, Catalyte’s predictive analytics platform has narrowed the talent gap for Fortune 1000 companies. Our AI-based hiring model and talent transformation program create software development teams that consistently outperform industry averages.