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A recent survey conducted by Pluralsight revealed that organizations are still struggling with cybersecurity, cloud, and software development skill gaps. This has resulted in increased workloads for existing IT staff and abandoned projects due to these gaps. The top roadblocks preventing progress in upskilling include a lack of support from leadership, difficulty finding time for training, disengaged employees, and financial constraints.
The survey also found that cybersecurity and cloud skills gaps have remained the largest since 2021, leading businesses to revamp their workforce and training strategies. Upskilling has become an appealing strategy for organizations, as it takes an average of 10 weeks to fill open IT positions in the U.S. at a cost of around $23,000, while upskilling an IT employee costs around $15,000.
Despite the pressure to incorporate emerging technologies such as generative AI, business leaders are advised to prioritize solid security, cloud, and software development skills, as they are critical to business operations. Interestingly, AI and machine learning talent gaps are a low priority among executives and technologists, with reasons including a lack of internal AI skills analysis and AI not yet becoming a priority while other gaps remain.
However, there is hope for organizations investing in technical upskilling, as around three-quarters of respondents reported improvements in IT skills gaps in their organizations since last year.
