With Vietnam’s information technology (IT) and digital industries accelerating rapidly, the need for strong IT skills, digital literacy, and interpersonal skills are in high demand, senior Australian academic Dr. 

Alan Sixsmith from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) told a workshop during his visit to Vietnam in September.

“Strong IT infrastructure and digital technologies reinforce economic growth and productivity,” he said. “With the Vietnamese Government’s E-commerce Master Plan and IT Master Plan paving the way, these industries are predicted to contribute 8-10 per cent of Vietnam’s GDP by 2020.”

With this growth in mind, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)’s 2018 report into Vietnam’s Future Digital Economy highlighted the need for more than 1 million IT workers by 2020, with the demand for IT skills growing by 47 per cent annually.

According to Gartner, hot trends in IT in Vietnam include artificial intelligence (AI), cloud storage, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and blockchain. Other key areas include the Internet of Things (IoT), e-commerce, and business process and IT outsourcing.

Dr. Sixsmith visited Vietnam in September for a series of workshops with UTS Insearch in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang, highlighting careers in IT and engineering.

“Talent shortages in AI are already acute right across Asia - globally the work-ready talent supply in AI is estimated at just 300,000 people, with demand for several million specialists,” Dr. Sixsmith said. “This means high-tech talent in AI will remain in short supply globally for the foreseeable future.”

Already employers across Asia report difficulty in finding suitably-qualified IT staff to fill vacancies. Hays Asia reports 18-22 per cent of organizations are finding it difficult to recruit entry to middle level IT staff.

“With global demand for IT specialists accelerating, those who have deep skills in developing and managing IT will remain at the front of the pack,” he went on. “Getting the right human capital to deliver on the opportunities ahead will be challenging. Vietnamese employers need excellent IT skills and digital literacy, but these employees should to come with strong ‘soft skills’ and social skills to build effective teams and communicate with global customers.”

“Multidisciplinary skills and cross-industry experience will be in demand to draw on creativity, collaboration, problem solving and the application of knowledge.”

UTS’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Sydney is among the leading research centers in AI, working on developing theoretical foundations and advanced algorithms. It aims to lead developments in computational intelligence, business intelligence, computer vision, data science, machine learning, brain computer interface, social robotics, and information systems.

 Vietnam Economic Times