Half of all Singapore ICT professionals are driven to upgrade their skills

One in two information and communication technology (ICT) professionals in Singapore feel the need to equip themselves with additional skills to compete in their ICT sector, the Singapore Computer Society’s (SCS) annual Infocomm Media Industry Survey* has found. Skills such as data analytics (29%), and people and project management skills (39%) were identified as the key areas they needed to work on to support career development.

According to the survey, 37% of respondents aged 36 to 50 years old feel the greatest need to equip themselves with such skills, followed by respondents aged 50 and above (30%) and respondents aged 21 to 35 (28%). These findings on employability and sentiment come amid an increased focus on the importance of the ICT sector to business development and as the Singapore government further drives its Smart Nation initiative to transform the economy. With the emergence of the Internet of Things, expertise in the fields such as data analytics and user experience design are now highly sought after across the region.

Data from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) further shows that the Republic’s ICT industry revenue grew by 15.7% from 2009 to 2014, hitting S$167.1 billion in 2014**. In the IDA Annual Survey on Infocomm Manpower 2015, companies indicated that there will be additional 53,000 new ICT positions required across the Singapore economy by 2018.

Despite the optimistic outlook, a significant proportion of ICT professionals in Singapore feel inadequate and uncertain about the required industry skills and knowledge. According to the survey, technical skills in addition to data analytics that respondents feel are crucial for their success are security engineering and management (14%), requirement gathering and process design (10%), and infrastructure architecture and support (10%).

In terms of soft skills other than people and project management, respondents cited IT business development (15%), information management (14%), and green management (8%) as other skills they believe they need to remain competitive in the ICT-driven economy.

"Key emerging areas such as data analytics and cybersecurity are just some of the skills in which IT professionals can seek to be proficient even as companies invest in such technologies for the long term,” Howie Lau, President of Singapore Computer Society, said.

According to the survey, 53% of respondents feel their organisations are doing a good to great job in helping ICT professionals upgrade their skills. By investing in human capital, businesses are better able to retain their competitive edge to meet the changing demands of the global digital economy. Respondents also believe that it is important to upgrade their skills to stay relevant in the technology-driven economy. More than 70% of respondents say they are willing to spend up to S$2,000 of their own money annually to upgrade their skills and knowledge.

This finding underscores that the government is moving in the right direction to encourage individuals to take ownership of their own learning. With the roll-out of SkillsFuture Credit*** earlier this year, individuals will be able to defray the out-of-pocket cost of training courses. “It's heartening to note that many technology workers already recognise this need to evolve with the changing demands of businesses and society. They are serious and even willing to put their money where their mouth is to attain the relevant certifications,” Lau said.

This consistent emphasis on skills enhancement is not only good for career development, but helps keep Singapore in its leadership position. Fortunately, almost 57% of ICT professionals in Singapore are aware that organisations such IDA and Singapore WorkforceDevelopment Agency (WDA) can assist them in such training. The SkillsFuture Credit initiative aims to encourage individuals to take ownership of their skills development and lifelong learning. All Singaporeans aged 25 and above have received an opening credit of S$500 from January 2016.

Interested?

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post on SkillsFuture

*The Singapore Computer Society’s annual Infocomm Media Industry Survey 2016 was conducted by CusJo with 1,000 ICT professionals, aged 18 to 70 years, between March and April 2016. 
**IDA, Annual Survey on Infocomm Industry for 2014 (PDF)