In July-November in the Financial Year 2020-21, Pakistan’s information technology (IT) and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances consisting of computer services and call center services increased by a whopping 38.16 percent to US $648.940 million compared to US $469.713 million in the same period last year 2019-20.
According to the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) performance report, an organization under the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication, this boost comes in the midst of strong growth in the IT industry; IT & IT activated Services (ITeS), computer and call center services export remittances grew to US$648.940 million during July-November of FY 2020-21, at a growth rate of 38.16 percent.
An IT official said the IT industry has been a star in Pakistan’s economy and, as a result of strong government support, skilled entrepreneurs and a talented workforce, has achieved positive year-on-year growth.
He said that PSEB has accelerated work on the program ‘Training & Qualification’ in which 6,000 graduates and professionals are familiar with the latest technologies, helping them to meet the needs of the contemporary world. He said that during the period 2021-23, professionals will be trained.
“To a question he said, growth has exacerbated the shortage of skilled labor for the IT industry as “the key resource of the Industry is skilled labor and without a solid, skilled labor base, the growth momentum of Pakistan’s IT Industry can not be sustained.
Internationally recognized certifications, he said, are a fast and easily recognized benchmark based on standardized testing mapped to a particular skill set.
Especially in the global information technology industry, globally recognized training is highly coveted. The achievement of international certifications gives immediate visibility to IT professionals and recent IT graduates, who will most likely go unnoticed by Pakistani and international IT companies without international certifications.
International certificates will provide Pakistani IT companies and IT professionals with a level playing field in the solicitation of international projects. Education and certification, covering the latest technology such as machine learning, block chain, automated testing and big data analytics, will be carried out free of charge or at a nominal cost.
He said AWS Certified Solution Architect, AWS Certified Big Data Specialist, Microsoft Azure Big Data Analytics Solutions, Scrum Master Certified (SAMC), Python Programming Certified Associates, CCNA, Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator and many others will be certified.
Local training companies will be expected to collaborate with foreign entities such as Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, among others, to ensure full capacity building of the local IT ecosystem, he added.
The training program will significantly improve the IT ecosystem of Pakistan and “effectively address the issue of Pakistani graduate employability and significantly increase their potential as a young techie, start-up entrepreneur or as a freelancer.”
