Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Effects of ‘brain drain’ in IT sector ‘minimal’
INFORMATION technology companies, like most industry sectors in the country, face the problem of declining number of high-level personnel.
Keeping entry-level employees is already a “continuous struggle,” but preventing senior officials with specialized technical skills pose an even bigger threat on the industry, according to multinational software development companies operating in the country.
IT companies, including iComm International, iCAtch It, Business Software Alliance (BSA), Advance World System Inc. (AWSI), NEC Telecoms Software Philippines and InfoWeapons Corp. Inc., admitted to sharing the problem during a press conference last Friday.
NEC Telecoms human resource senior manager Gina Teresa Alonso said senior company officials, who have specialized technical skills, opt to work abroad to “seek greener pastures.”
But while the exodus of Filipino workers for better paying jobs overseas is a problem for many industry sectors, its effect on IT companies is “generally minimal,” said Jonathan Tse, AWSI research and development manager.
Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-it) senior adviser Fred Kintanar said the employee turnover rate of the country’s IT industry is only 10 percent.
He said this is much lower compared to other sectors like nursing. “In Cebu, the rate is even lower,” he added.
Kintanar said that unlike the nursing profession, which most Filipinos consider a “gateway” to work and live abroad, IT professionals work overseas to hone their skills and will “mostly likely” return to the country.
“There are people who have conditioned their minds to work abroad thereby taking courses that will lead them there. IT graduates study IT not mainly because they aim to work overseas but because it’s their field of expertise. Some go abroad but will eventually come back,” he said.
According to ABS president Robert Cheng “worker mobility” has long been “acceptable” in the IT industry, especially with growing globalization.
“It’s part of the whole business model because IT by nature is very mobile,” he said.
Meanwhile, iComm International president Myke Tyler said the province needs to further enhance more skills improvement programs to sustain the growing demand worldwide for more quality software engineers.
“You have the best software engineers but not enough good quality people. The industry is supply-constrained rather than demand-constrained,” he said. “For as long as we continue to get quality engineers in Cebu, we will continue to operate here,” Jonathan Corners, iCAtch It president said.
According to Cedfit executive director Bonifacio Belen, the software industry in Cebu will need at least 1,500 software engineers and programmers this year.
Belen is hopeful that the institutionalization of the Cedfit-initiated Philippine IT general certification exam will improve the pool of IT professionals in the country. (MMM)
