Africa IT staff working for more hours

Having been a regular traveler in different parts of East and Southern Africa,the survey that was carried out recently about African countries IT staff was hardly surprising.The survey of almost 4200 African IT industry professionals has found that the average employee is working more hours than ever.The drawn from 2,300 responses from University graduates, members of Computer Societies,Professional Engineers, Scientists and private and public IT Managers, found that the number of IT staff working more than 47 hours a week has risen to 83.9 percent, up from 53 percent in 2010.

Two third of respondents claimed to have worked over 47 hours a week, and over twice as many staff said they worked more than 54 hours a week.Private sector and not-for-profit workers were slightly more likely to work longer hours than Government employees.More IT professionals are choosing full-time work, the study found, at 89.2 percent compared to 71.1 percent in 2010. The insurance, defence and health industries and public administration employed the largest share of older IT workers. The report has given a handy insight for those workers keen to climb to the top with an average chief information officer in Africa has almost 20 years experience in the industry.

Unemployment rates have remained fairly steady in IT industry according to data in my possesion, with the lowest unemployment in the continent’s hardest countries to find work namely; South Africa,Kenya,Nigeria and Egypt.Professionals under 25 years old reported the highest incidence of unemployment during the past year.There is no doubt that these are statistic that greatly concerns the African continent IT industry players and stakeholders, which has noted a drop in the number of Sub Saharan African students taking up technology-related degrees and hesitation in the industry to offer graduate positions in booming ICT industry.

Interestingly,the females are more likely to be employed in business analyst, programming, project management and ICT security roles and were best represented in insurance, healthcare, education, R&D and academia.In my opinion,given Africa’s current ICT skills shortage, it is important that graduates are given the opportunity to progress within the industry.A vital part of addressing current skills shortages is to position the profession as a rewarding career path with many directions. African governments should initiate a mentoring program to lead fresh talent on a path into the industry.