Supply And Demand: Encouraging Millennials To Get Excited About The Channel
Information technology isn’t the first line of work that jumps off the page for many Millennials when it comes to choosing a career path.
Solution providers report their need for data scientists, analysts and engineers is growing exponentially. Yet, few young people are stepping up to take those available jobs. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that between 2013 and 2023, more than 1.4 million jobs will be created that require computer science programming skills. Just 400,000 grads with CS degrees are expected to be available to take them.
Tata Consultancy Services, an international solution provider headquartered in Mumbai, India, wants to change the minds of students and pinpoint what's turning off the younger generation to promising IT work. Currently, the U.S. Department of Labor reports less than 2.4 percent of U.S. college students will graduate with a computer science degree, and of that fraction, 12 percent will be women.
[Related: The IT Talent Shortage Is More Serious Than You Think]
TCS, which also has offices in New York City and Boston, completed its sixth year offering the goIT Student Technology Awareness Program, which is designed to get K-12 students interested in science, technology, engineering and math. The business has partnered with more than 50 school districts in 11 cities, ranging from New York City and Chicago to Jersey City and communities in California, to change the minds of youngsters.
Balaji Ganapathy, head of workforce effectiveness for TCS, said his colleagues want to give back and offer this free program to create self-sustaining, after-school programs to encourage young adults to grow up and take advantage of STEM opportunities.
’When we started with colleges, we saw only 17 percent of 12th graders were either interested or proficient in STEM, so the talent pipeline issue went down even further to K-12,’ he said. ’When we started mining those numbers, we found nine out of 10 schools in the U.S. don’t even offer computer science classes. In 30 out of 50 states, computer science doesn’t count toward a high school requirement, not even for math or science [credits].’
Ganapathy said TCS' goIT program is roughly three days long. Volunteers from Tata come into a school after hours to host a program focused on different areas, including robotics and computer coding. Instruction is also offered to staff so once Tata representatives leave, the programs continue.
TCS has engaged more than 7,500 students since the program's inception and boasts that participant schools have reported a 27 percent increase in students opting to pursue STEM disciplines. TCS, which earned $13.4 billion in revenue for the 12 months through March 31, is on a mission to expand their program for next year, too, according to Ganapathy.
He said from his own experience, he recognizes good talent is hard to find these days. TCS company has been growing every year, adding thousands of new jobs, but finding qualified candidates is becoming more and more difficult, Ganapathy said. The company, which touts itself as India’s largest industrial conglomerate, has 305,000 consultants worldwide and adds more every year.
’When you think about the company and the background and the kind of talent pool that we have, over 90 percent of our workforce has a STEM background. We’ve been hiring students from many of the top 100 universities and colleges across the country, but that goes many years back,’ he said. ’The talent pool that is available has not been keeping pace with the kind of job opportunities that exist in the market.’
Ganapathy pointed out between 2013 and 2023, it is reported that every computer scientist who graduates college will have two jobs awaiting them. He said to encourage young people to become more interested in the field, it’s important to stress how they’ll succeed across various sectors, too.
’Technology doesn’t mean just a job for a technology company. Manufacturing, energy, retail, ... any one of these sectors require people with a technology spin and a computer science background,’ he said. ’This is essentially about creating a pool of talent that can take up jobs for the future.’
TCS is also a founding partner of Million Women Mentors and US2020 -- both are national mentoring initiatives aimed at engaging a million industry professionals each to inspire students in STEM education and careers.
PUBLISHED SEPT. 5, 2014