As organizations of all types incorporate more technology into their everyday operations, demand for IT talent is at an all-time high. And while a number of corporations, institutions of higher education and non-profit organizations are making a variety of efforts to improve the number of people studying computer science, it’s not clear whether those efforts are helping.
Each year, only 13,000 college students graduate as computer science majors. And the numbers are even worse when it comes to women.
A National Science Foundation study recently found a significant drop in women choosing to study computer science over the last 30 years. Nearly 40% of computer science majors in 1984 were female, according to the study. Today, it's 18%.
"Even with the number of computer science jobs increasing, the number of women pursuing careers in computer science is falling," said Jennifer Koebele, a writer who specializes in research on higher education and technology.
Starting early
Experts say part of the problem is that kids, particularly girls, need exposure to computer science concepts at a much younger age. Most schools don’t offer computer science types of courses until high school, if at all.
Fortunately, some cities appear to be taking note and taking action. Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made a major announcement regarding education and technology: within 10 years, de Blasio said, all of the city’s public schools will be required to offer computer science to all students. The goal is for all students, even those in elementary school and those in the poorest neighborhoods, to have some exposure to computer science.
According to estimates from New York’s Department of Education, fewer than 10% of New York schools currently offer any form of computer science education.
Two other major cities -- Chicago and San Francisco -- also recently made commitments to offer computer science to all students. Chicago pledged to make a yearlong computer science course a high school graduation requirement by 2018, and to offer computer science to at least a quarter of elementary school children by then. The San Francisco Unified School District, meanwhile, is planning to implement a computer science curriculum in all its schools, from preschool to the 12th grade, by school year 2016-17.
"Information technology is now the fastest growing job sector in San Francisco, but too few students currently have access to learn the Computer Science skills that are crucial for such careers," said Emily Murase, president of the district's Board of Education. "We are proud to be at the forefront of creating a curriculum that will build on the knowledge and skills students will need starting as early as preschool."
Consequences of not taking action
Studies show a lack of IT talent can mean real, bottom-line challenges for organizations.
A recent report from Appirio and Wakefield Research found that a shortage of IT talent often prevents businesses from meeting their IT goals. The report found that 25% of IT projects today are abandoned as a result of a shortage of IT workers, and 90% of respondents to Appirio’s survey agreed that recruiting technology talent is a major business challenge.
Clearly, businesses need IT workers to improve their efficiency and competitiveness, among other things, and those needs are only going to grow.
While the city efforts are commendable, meeting their goals will also present major challenges, primarily in training enough teachers. For example, there is currently no state teacher certification in computer science in New York, and no pipeline of computer science teachers coming out of college.
“Only one in 10 high schools currently offer computer science courses,” said Adam Enbar, co-founder and president of Flatiron School, a New York-based provider of teacher technology training. “And that’s due in large part to a lack of qualified instructors.”
There’s still a long way to go in boosting the number of IT workers available, but the recent efforts by cities to improve access to computer science by students at a young age are certainly admirable.
