The demand for software developers is growing in South Africa, but the country’s skills pool is shallow.

The growth of the internet, technology and analytics play a critical role in business growth in South Africa as business uses technology to connect to its consumers.

Different software in computers, smartphones, televisions and wearable technology is being used to understand consumers and sell to consumers.

South Africa has a need for more software developers to create and build software for different businesses in multiple industries, yet a lack of skills to build these software remains a challenge – SA throttling economic growth. “One of the biggest pain points at the moment is the inability to find enough skills in the country,” says Entelect GM of Operations Sheldon Lyne. He says the software industry is booming as more businesses recreate their digital strategies and international companies look for resources to build their systems. “There are a lot of opportunities but we get hamstrung by the ability to service that because there are not enough skills in the market,” says Lyne. 

“As a young entrepreneur looking for software development skills, it’s quite difficult to find guys that are good quality and are able to deliver high-quality solutions because of the big shortage,” he says. He says young people need to be encouraged to consider software development as there are more job opportunities in the industry compared to other industries.

Lyne says more can be done by business, universities and schools and well as the government to boost the workforce available in the software development industry.



According to the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering, SA needs to meet its growth needs in technology to remain competitive.

The 2016 JCSE ICT Skills survey notes “software as a service” and “application development” among the priorities in the ICT industry.

“There is an immediate unsatisfied need for skills in the ICT sector that is only going to get worse in the medium and long term,” notes the survey report.

 This article was originally posted bySABC News

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