It`s generally believed that South African businesses need more ICT skills than are currently available. The blame is placed at the global skills shortage and brain drain, affirmative action that has excluded certain skills, and a bad education system that doesn`t promote the pursuit of technical skills. But no one as yet has assed the real extent of this shortage and its impact on local businesses. Does the ICT sector face a skills crisis, or are its practitioners filling the gaps through skills development? What are the most pressing skills needs?

These are some of the questions ITWeb and the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) have attempted to answer with their recent ICT Skills Survey.