Booming IT industry struggles to find personnel
Software and consulting companies are creating new positions but having trouble filling them. In response to this, the unemployed are to be trained up.
The IT branch has never had it so good: the German government is pouring billions of euros into the industry and, according to the German Association of IT, growth is twice as strong as that of the entire German economy. Mainz is reaping the benefits too.
The software developers at IPS are desperately seeking 14 qualified employees. In photo from left: managers Udo Foff and Klaus Steidl with Johannes Weckerle and Monica Garcia.
MAINZ. Mainz is a hotbed of potential for the IT industry. The job agency in Mainz employs some 6,200 people in the area of data processing, which is 800 more than in 2000. Software companies and service providers in particular are employing more and more people - or are at least trying to because, as is the case throughout Germany, Mainz is lacking qualified specialists.
IPS is feeling the effects of this too. The Mainz-based software developer currently has 14 positions it cannot fill. Manager Klaus Steidl is worried about the situation: "We are having huge problems finding the right people for the job." Applicants who have successfully completed an IT, mathematics, business studies, or engineering course are well placed, but the company is having problems filling even the four to six training positions available at IPS. Of about ten applicants, perhaps only one has the required qualifications, says Steidl.
It seems likely that qualified personnel will remain a rarity. Despite the positive outlook for the future, fewer people are opting to study IT. In 2001, 122 students enrolled at the Institute for IT at the Johannes-Gutenberg University; this term, the figure had shrunk to just 73, which is also due to the lack of a masters programme. The institute is increasing its efforts to attract school-leavers to its course. "Girls' Days" and introductory courses are designed to encourage an interest in IT. Girls in particular are quickly daunted by this highly mathematical subject, as Michaela Brauburger from the institute can confirm. Currently only 14% of the students who have enrolled are females.
The Mainz job agency is now attempting to train up suitable unemployed people by offering targeted training courses. As job market consultant Harald Körner explains, computer scientists, programmers, and IT administrators are required to fulfill the most exacting demands. Above all, anyone who wants to work in a software company needs a sound knowledge of applications and programming languages, such as SAP (ABAP) or JAVA. Even newly qualified graduates or experts are often unsuitable.
Alongside health care, temporary work, and logistics, the IT industry is once again a major player in Mainz after suffering years of personnel cutbacks. IPS manager Steidl is, however, reluctant to talk of an IT boom as at the turn of the century. "Growth is extremely delicate but, with some careful nurturing, it can always reach new highs."
Stephanie Mersmann
Photo: Rüdiger Mosler
Mainzer Generale Zeitung
01/17/2007