The software talent shortage. Some thoughts on the subject

Projections from all sources show a widening gap between supply and demand for software professionals. In January 1998, the Information Technology Association of America announced their study estimating 340,000 open information technology (IT) positions in the US. This estimate did not include non-profit, federal, state or local government jobs or small companies. At the same time, Richard Daley, US Secretary of Commerce, announced the government's estimate of a 1.3 million shortfall in the IT workforce over the next decade. Since the US Department of Labor does not collect detailed data on software professionals and software jobs, we are only beginning to gather evidence. But our conversations with industry insiders strongly confirm our suspicions of a growing shortfall of good programmers.