There is a need to look into the root causes of our short supply of IT talent ("IT talent in short supply amid Smart Nation push"; Monday).
Our education system must continue to evolve and prepare our students for future occupations.
The most alarming problem is obsolete skills. This is very disappointing, given the investment of much effort, money and time by our students.
The IT application development field can innovate so fast that traditional training methods cannot keep up. Students should directly tap Silicon Valley's online learning resources for the latest.
As for other IT disciplines, business knowledge is required for employees to be effective.
For example, cyber security requires knowledge of business processes and regulatory compliance, while data analytics to help businesses in decision-making requires in-depth business knowledge of customers (marketing) and financial analytics.
Not everyone can or wants to be a dedicated IT professional. Instead, our economy will need more IT savviness.
We should review our education approach to prepare our students for new jobs in the new economy.
Calvin Yong Chee Yean
