Poor training makes up to 200,000 IT engineers unemployable

The recently published “Vietnamese IT market report in 2023” on TopDev says most recruiters look for three types of developers: back end, full-stack (who will build the interface), and front end.

The top five skills that are sought are java script, Java, PHP, C# or .NET, and Python.

TopDev says by 2025 Vietnam will need close to 700,000 IT engineers. The country has around 530,000 now. The number of new IT graduates is increasing steadily, but do not meet the job market’s demands.

Of more than 57,000 graduating annually only 30% have the required skills and expertise required by companies, and the rest need additional training by employers for three to six months.

A long-term supervisor at a company based in the Quang Trung Software City in HCMC said recently that the market has few experienced developers and an excess of “freshers.”

Between inadequate training in schools and a shortage of experienced people, quality candidates are always scarce and desirable.

Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong, the Hanoi director of recruitment for Adecco Vietnam, said firms intensified their search for experts in the year’s first half. Vietnam saw a 35% decrease in the number of vacancies in IT jobs in the same period in 2022.

Despite the economic downturn, the average salary of IT personnel has increased since 2022, albeit marginally, according to TopDev.

More than 70% of new hires earn US$600-1,000 a month, and the salaries go up to $1,100-1,500 for mid-level jobs and $1,100-2,000 at the top level, with 10% getting around $2,500.

Information and communication technology is one of the fastest-growing industries in Vietnam. Its revenues have risen from less than $103 billion in 2018 to $136.15 billion in 2021.

In the 2021 Global Innovation Index, Vietnam ranked 44th out of 132 economies.

According to Tran Thi Nguyet Oanh, HSBC Vietnam’s head of human resources, plenty of future jobs are linked to IT fields like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, information security and financial technology.

TopDev recommends that developers should improve their understanding of new technologies such as cybersecurity, DevOps, AI, and machine learning, and cloud computing and soft skills such as critical thinking, communication, time management, and foreign languages.