Is legacy technology impacting your ability to attract and retain top talent Viewpoint careers advice blog

Is legacy technology impacting your ability to attract and retain top talent In a world where innovation is an increasingly important commodity to attract the best IT talent, how can you make sure your legacy technology isn’t letting you down? Legacy technology has the potential to create serious challenges for CIOs and IT managers. For a start, there are legitimate concerns that an over-reliance on legacy technology has the potential to exacerbate an already skills short IT landscape. It’s proving increasingly hard to replace those professionals who are adept at working with these technologies, as many are now reaching the end of their careers. So, you’ll need to recruit new talent to help fill these gaps. The problem is that IT professionals of today are eager to continuously and consistently upskill to stay ahead of the ever-changing technology curve. And this is completely understandable. As such, they want to work with the most innovative technology. And working with modern technology is, in their opinion, key to growing, maintaining and utilising these skills. Short of scrapping all your technology based on COBOL or which uses a mainframe-based system, there are ways that you can ensure you meet the needs of your staff â€" both current and potential â€" to feel challenged in their roles. In doing so, you will be able to attract and retain talent, and help mitigate the risk of skills shortages impacting your future business plans. 1. Education, education, education Our  What Workers Want Report 2017  showed that IT employees desire a range of training support. For a group far more likely to be self-taught than many other professionals, this appreciation for continual training and development is unsurprising. However, there is a notable mismatch between the types of training IT professionals want, and what they receive. For example, 80 per cent of IT professionals want third party training â€" such as training offered by major industry players on their latest technology. However, only 45 per cent state they receive this from their employers. Similarly, 58 per cent want access to formal mentoring, but only 29 per cent state they receive this. An emphasis on education is vital for firms reliant on legacy tech to survive. ATT, for example, has spent $250 million on employee education and professional development programs to retrain and, ultimately, retain its staff in the changing technology landscape. It is also important to build legacy skills and technology into your training programme and to ensure these programmes are not just delivered online but match the needs of your staff. For example, some savvy firms implement knowledge transfer strategies to ensure seasoned staff can pass their knowledge on to the newest IT recruits. This approach not only helps the next generation understand the legacy languages and systems, but also gain a wider perspective of their impact within the company and industry. Additionally, to attract the very best next generation of IT professionals and ensure your legacy tech can be maintained, you may want to start the training process very early on. For example, you could run an internship programme where legacy skills and technology are incorporated into the course, or you could partner with a college or university to jointly develop a curriculum that hones these skills. It’s a win-win situation â€" you get the array of skills your business needs, and the students get a leg up when applying for a role. Marist College, for example, has a strong relationship with IBM to foster the best mix of skills for a career in software development. You don’t need to approach the big names in academia either â€" none of the eight Ivy League are on the top 10 list of US universities sending the most graduates to tech firms in Silicon Valley. 2. Consider a coding revolution If you can integrate existing legacy systems with cutting-edge technology, then this offers your staff the opportunity to find innovative solutions to issues that may have hampered your organisation for some time. For example, semiconductor chip machine manufacturer ASML recently deleted half a million lines of legacy code to make its code base more robust and manageable. The work was done by a team of three pioneering developers. This is an extreme example but ownership on this scale and with such an impact to the business could help you to both attract and retain the best emerging IT talent. You could, for instance, encourage staff to provide a better user experience or interface for the front-end applications that still rely on back-end legacy tech. Such an approach will help your IT staff understand the legacy systems your business relies on â€" while letting them use the latest technologies to improve them. It’s the best of both worlds. 3. Emphasise the importance of a tailored career path For 81 per cent of developers, seniority level is important. Employers, therefore, need to ensure that the unique goals of their staff are mapped out and, for those who want to progress, that clear support and guidance is  provided every step of the way. This is especially important for those developers who work with legacy code and systems. They may feel, for instance, that because their work is not “cutting edge” then their skill set and future career path will be left behind. This is where CIOs must begin to generate excitement and show staff how to drive innovation using legacy tech. Otherwise, you could lose out to start-ups and other organisations seen to be working at the bleeding edge. This requires a cultural shift for many organisations, while staying true to their roots â€" and an emphasis on a tailored career path will help you to demonstrate that you take your staff’s future seriously. For example, for those IT professionals who want to reach the C-suite, ensure that they have a clear roadmap for the future. Our survey revealed that 25 per cent of IT professionals want to reach C-suite positions in their careers, higher than the overall average of 21 per cent across other industries. But you must emphasis the value of a career path to every member of staff â€" whatever rank in the company they want to achieve. You could, for example, expose your staff to cross-functional work in change management, or provide coaching on how to improve stakeholder management and commercial understanding. In doing so, you will be introducing your employees to challenges beyond working with the latest technology â€" namely the honing of their soft skills with the goal of moving up the career ladder. In short, your legacy systems don’t necessarily have to make it more difficult for you to attract and retain the best IT talent out there. The important thing is that you understand what it is that this talent wants from an employer. You must then use this information to set yourself apart from the competition in this raging war for talent. If you found this blog helpful read our other blogs: Employers beware: is your online reputation discouraging jobseekers? 8 hiring mistakes that could cost you big Why attitude always matters when hiring Six of the best risks you can take when hiring new talent