EU 2020: developing the IT profession to meet the vision for Europe

This article discusses the issues associated with the upskilling and reskilling of the European active workforce in information technologies, IT, and digital technology skills. A rationale is presented to relate this requirement to the European Union target to be the world's leading knowledge economy by 2020 and a quartile descriptive partitioning of the workforce in terms of IT skills and knowledge, and their use, is presented. Consideration is given to the need to provide articulated and universally accepted skills and qualification frameworks that offer seamless progression through all levels from novice to professional. The key organisations working in this sector, most of which have been established in the last 2-4 years, are also described. The article concludes by stressing the importance of developing a professional IT workforce to compete effectively on a global stage. Fundamental to this argument is the requirement to develop the existing workforce, the majority of whom have already completed formal education, and to provide the tools, frameworks and protocols to achieve this. Finally, the value of successfully undertaking such a development is quantified in economic terms, and a set of actions, some already underway, to achieve the professionalisation of the IT industry are described