Tackling the Software Skills Crunch

Software development is an ever more important part of IT and business, yet some countries face shortages of software skills. As well as making it harder to recruit developers, this is also pushing up salaries. Many possible solutions have been explored, often aiming to leverage other countries where there’s a surplus – or at least an adequate supply – of developers and where costs are lower. They include outsourcing, hiring developers from abroad, finding a partner to help build an offshore team, and perhaps the most complex option, setting up subsidiaries in those countries.

Each of these has its advantages and disadvantages for what we’ll call the ‘parent’ organisation, of course. Against this background, the research presented in this report, based on feedback from 50 IT leaders and managers, considers how resourcing ideas and staffing solutions in this space are evolving. If you too face, or expect to face, resource challenges in software engineering, then read on to learn more.