Closing the Cloud Skills Gap

For much of the decade, an increasing amount of what we know as the internet has become powered by the Cloud: the vast pool of computing power and data storage that exists on remote servers across the world. From Dropdox to Gmail and Microsoft Azure, Cloud computing increasingly underpins both our work and social lives – sometimes without us even noticing.

But there is one area where this revolution has had a more visible impact: jobs. The industry group TechUK says that Cloud computing now ranks amongst the top three most sought after digital skills in the UK, with demand rising in all regions. That might be better news, though, if we weren’t already facing a biting digital skills shortage – with some 100,000 monthly unfilled vacancies costing the economy an estimated £6.3 billion in GDP each year.

The government has been quick to launch various strategies to affirm its commitment to digital skills. Yet data from schools shows it may have its work cut out, with a 40 per cent drop in students taking IT-related subjects at GCSE level. Feedback from employers paints a similarly depressing picture, with 18 per cent saying that new hires lack basic digital skills.

Can the UK capitalise on the lucrative Cloud jobs boom – or is it too late? To find out, The Spectator hosted a boardroom lunch chaired by our economics editor Kate Andrews – and kindly sponsored by the Cloud Consulting and Technology Association (CCTA). As the trade body for the UK’s Cloud industry, the CCTA knows the impact of the skills shortage all too well – and was happy to share the industry view.

‘We represent a lot of very fast-growing businesses and so many of them are telling us they need more staff,’ said the CCTA’s director, John Arnold. ‘What I hear constantly is that they could do so much more work – both for the public and private sector – if only they had access to more people with the right skills.’

On the face of it, he said, the industry had two challenges. The first was getting more people in the short term – for example, persuading those with existing skills in engineering or mathematics to consider Cloud computing as a career. The second was raising the profile of this work in schools, broadening the pool of potential future recruits.

For Jon Topper, chief executive of Scale Factory, a Leeds-based Cloud consultancy, another prescient issue was international competition – with UK firms increasingly seeing would-be recruits snapped up by American competitors. ‘In this sector, geography has become almost irrelevant,’ he said. ‘After the pandemic, we’re seeing the industry spreading outwards, with US-based companies realising they can hire people from Europe and Asia.’

Jo Olivieria, from London-based consultants Unboxed (which, like Scale Factory, works with partner organisations to utilise the potential of the Cloud), found that the skills shortage was placing limitations on firms with smaller budgets. ‘We actually work with a lot of public sector organisations who are keen to hire Cloud specialists but can’t necessarily compete with private sector pay,’ she said. The danger was that government digital services would fall even further behind their private sector equivalents.

And for Damian Collins, a Conservative MP and former chairman of the DCMS select committee, it was a familiar topic. Despite being vital to the modern economy, digital skills were still under-recognised when it came to education, he said – and not always well understood. ‘I actually took one of those “learn to code” courses a few years ago,’ he said. ‘One of the things that surprised me is that it’s actually much more like learning a language than doing maths.’

‘I think we also need to make sure we’re focusing on primary school children,’ said Baroness Verna, a Conservative peer and advocate for skills training. ‘What often happens is we assume that parents will have the skillsets to teach their children, but that isn’t always the case – particularly when you’re dealing with technology.’ Her colleague Lord Lucas agreed. ‘I think digital needs to be seen as a central core skill alongside English and maths,’ he said.

Why have ministers been slow to respond to the digital skills shortage? ‘I think one of the problems is that virtually all ministers have gone the university route,’ said Baroness Garden, a Lib Dem peer and former whip in the coalition government. ‘Hardly anyone working on skills in Whitehall has actually been down the vocational education route.’ It was a point that struck a chord with Tom Hunt – a member of the House of Commons education select committee – who said he was one of many Conservative members to have doubts over the legacy of the 50 per cent university target.

What did Nick Fletcher, one of few MPs to have come from an FE background, make of it? ‘I think the secret is getting really excellent people into schools to talk about vocational careers,’ he said. ‘I think that’s why so many people become teachers: because they have a great teacher and get inspired. But who is going to inspire them to go into vocational training?’

In the meantime, if there was one statistic that might help get learners enthused, it was the average salary for Cloud computing jobs – an impressive £57,500, according to a recent report (with Cloud engineers taking home even more – at £69,000). And with projections that Cloud computing could become the single most in-demand tech skill by the middle of the decade, there was every chance that both numbers would continue heading upwards – presenting a serious opportunity to learners and Whitehall alike.

Charts:

1. According to a 2021 DCMS study of employers, the digital skills lacked by graduates are: