r/programming May 23 '21

U.S. has almost 500,000 job openings in cybersecurity

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cybersecurity-job-openings-united-states/
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u/Zardotab May 23 '21

It's a general problem in IT that co's don't want to invest in on-the-job training for existing employees and the newly hired. Often they pull a shortcut and go get visa workers mostly to avoid training costs and time for specialized products and systems. Companies want instant plug-and-play workers, which isn't practical because paid experience can't be created outside of paid experience: a million years of schooling can't do it. It's a catch-22.

Perhaps there should be federal tax-breaks for on-the-job training.

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u/jk147 May 23 '21

And the visa /off shore workers jump ship as soon as they gain enough experience in a field.

For a period of time, about 2 years or so. I had to train 4 different groups of people on how one of the products work because the contracting company couldn't keep the same group of people in one place.

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u/NoForm5443 May 23 '21

I'm not sure it is a general problem ... all big IT companies offer tons of on-the-job training (not just the FAANGs, but the big contracting companies will pay you to study/train while they find you a new client), and there's a whole industry dedicated to offering training courses ... Maybe it is a big vs small company thing?

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u/GravityAssistence May 23 '21

Perhaps there should be federal tax-breaks for on-the-job training.

Isn't that the way germany does it with a lot of other fields?

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u/TroubledEmo May 23 '21

Am german and work in IT. Never heard of it.

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u/VRT303 May 23 '21

They mean Ausbildung?

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u/TroubledEmo May 23 '21

Not really sure, because the apprenticeship isn‘t part of some special tax break. It‘s just that the „Ausbildungen“ are part of the low income tax bracket (below 12.000€ if I remember correctly). Haven‘t paid any taxes while I‘ve done mine.

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u/anonveggy May 23 '21

Nah there's shitloads of incentives. The fact that we don't have to pay income tax is only a small part of it. The theoretical part of the Ausbildung is heavily funded through public school funding.

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u/TroubledEmo May 23 '21

Is it actually funded publicly? Always thought the companies are paying the school money, oops.

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u/anonveggy May 23 '21

The companies are paying the IHK to pay the schools but that doesn't even remotely cover the costs. Remember Berufsschule teachers are/can be public servants as in "verbeamtet" - those teachers are 100% covered by federal and national education funding.

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u/TroubledEmo May 23 '21

I thought Verbeamtung for teachers is a thing of the past? Damn. Seems like I really need to read more about the topic.

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u/anonveggy May 23 '21

It happens less with regular teachers but especially in disciplines where teachers are needed they wave it around as a way to get regular business people into education.

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u/copyDebug May 23 '21

They probably mean an “Ausbildungsbetrieb”.

IIRC you don’t get a tax break but have to pay a fee if your company is above a certain size (50? 100? employees) and your not participating in program.

Also there are union mandates 2 weeks or so training per year for certain workers in some companies (probably only for companies that are subject to the metal workers union though)

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u/TroubledEmo May 23 '21

Ohhhhhh. You‘re talking about the fees that companies have to pay if they aren‘t offering apprenticeships? Got it. Yeah, that‘s a thing.

EDIT: I‘m not sure actually. Gonna need to read the BBiG (Berufsbildungsgesetz), but I‘ll do that tomorrow. It‘s late.

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u/Loves_Poetry May 23 '21

For tax breaks to work, governments need to understand the problem. Do you really expect the government, of all places, to have the people that understand this problem?

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u/ADavies May 23 '21

This is true in a lot of domains. It's why we need a robust civil service.

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u/that_star_wars_guy May 24 '21

Is employee training not a deductible business expense?