If you’re looking for some exciting IT employment opportunities, you might want to turn your attention to Canada. According to a recent paper released by a group of high tech and education groups, there will be as many as 182,000 high-paying technology jobs available in Canada by 2019.
In addition to the predicted 182,000 jobs available by 2019, another 32,000 jobs will most likely be available in 2020 alone. And those numbers could easily increase as the market for robotics, cybersecurity, and advanced technologies, such as 3D printing, expands.
The problem, as in the United States, is that Canadian schools aren’t producing enough high tech workers to fill those jobs.
Those findings were released recently by Canada’s Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) in a 51-page paper prepared in cooperation with, among other groups, Microsoft Corp. and the Ottawa Catholic School Board. Titled “Digital Talent: Road to 2020”, the paper calls on the federal government to oversee the creation and implementation of a nationwide Digital Talent Strategy to encourage Canadian youth to pursue high tech studies.
ICTC is also urging the Canadian government to make computer science mandatory for children beginning in kindergarten. The report noted that students are less likely to continue in computer and science courses as they age. So introducing them to these courses early, and continuing them throughout grade school and secondary school as part of a regular curriculum, could help maintain their interest.
Similar programs have been adopted in the UK, and the Obama administration has been actively pursuing the goal of introducing computer science education as a core subject in all American public schools.
The bottom line is that IT is a booming career both here and abroad. Get the word out.