IT firms struggle to fill skilled manpower, despite huge demand

IT firms are struggling to find skilled tech talents and professionals despite higher demand for information technology services from local and global clients, a situation that threatens their expansion and could shatter Bangladesh’s export ambition for the sector. A mass exodus of talented workers and promising students, remote work opportunities and a mismatch between supply and demand have aggravated the situation recently.
The scarcity of skilled IT professionals has reached such an extent that Dream71 Bangladesh, one of the thriving software companies in Bangladesh, could not supply five computer programmers to a Polish firm. Now the company, which employs nearly 100 tech talents, is facing an uphill battle to hire IT engineers with proper skills. As the pandemic pushed up the demand for IT services since people embraced more of the digital lifestyle, some companies rushed to hire and train fresher’s to churn out required products.
Many tech firms recruit freshers and train them for months. After the training, eligible ones join permanently. Brain Station 23 has recruited 65 freshers this year alone. There are 2 to 2.5 lakh people working in the country’s IT industry. But to reach the export target we need more than 4 lakh trained people. Universities would not be able to deliver such a large human resource since they approximately supply 21,000 IT engineers per year.
Most companies demand readily employable ‘experienced’ resources. Since the average size of companies is small, they are not ready to train fresh graduates and make them employable as it costs them a lot. IT companies are facing the biggest shortage of human resources at the mid-level as a good number of mid-level employees, after working for three to four years in local IT firms, migrate to other countries for better job opportunities.
Youngsters are encountering problems related to traffic, taxes and bureaucracy in Bangladesh, which are discouraging them from staying here. The shortage of skilled workforce raises questions about the effectiveness of the government’s large expenses aimed at training people with digital skills.