Over recent years, Da Nang’s software businesses have been facing a severe shortage of qualified information technology (IT) employees.  Meanwhile, many new IT graduates in the city are finding it very hard to find suitable jobs due to not satisfying the requirements of their recruiters.

According to a spokesperson for the Da Nang Software Association, over 100 local software companies often recruit IT employees, especially software engineers.  Between January and June, there have been a total of 1,600 job adverts posted on https://www.facebook.com/groups/368698476630471/forsaleposts for such positions as software testers, developers and managers.

Employees at a local IT company

The Director of the Da Nang-based iViettech Training and Technology company, Mr Vy Van Viet, explained that many local IT graduates lack background knowledge, foreign language proficiency, and other soft skills. 

According to statistics released by the Software Association last year, only 600 out of 3,000 IT graduates were able to start work for the city’s businesses immediately after being recruited.  The majority had to take intensive courses organised by their recruiters before starting their jobs.

Due to the serious lack of IT employees, many software businesses are attracting qualified IT engineers from other companies by offering more attractive salaries.  This results in an unstable IT labour market as IT employees jump from job to job in a short period of time.

Mr Dang Ngoc Hai, director of the city’s branch of Axon Active Viet Nam, commented “To sort out the problem, the association’s member businesses should develop closer links with each other and exchange their qualified IT employees in order to reduce their project risks and labour market disruption.  This cooperation would help to not only ensure benefits, but also preserve the reputation of the city’s software export industry.”

Mr Vo Thanh Hai, Vice Principal of Duy Tan University, proposed that local IT universities and colleges should renew their teaching programmes to meet the demands of IT companies.