Finding the right tech talent to build software applications

Author: Kelly Kingstone, Director of Headforwards Digital Academy

Digital transformation projects are expected to continue to be a priority for digital leaders in 2025 as companies recognise the opportunity to take advantage of AI and advancing technologies to build new digital capabilities to meet their evolving customers’ needs. Statista predicts global spending on digital transformations is forecast to reach 3.9 trillion U.S. dollars by 2027, up from 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024. 

But amidst an existing skills shortage, finding adequately skilled tech experts to do the specialist work is getting harder. In fact, IDC predicts that by 2026, more than 90% of organisations worldwide will be impacted by the IT skills crisis, amounting to some $5.5 trillion in losses caused by product delays, impaired competitiveness, and loss of business.

It’s therefore essential that development team leaders are aware of some key routes to access their required tech talent in order to build successful software. Some ways development team leaders can find these skills are through hiring, upskilling, training and outsourcing to a digital partner. 

Although there are various pathways that enable people to join the working world of technology, many are three years full time which doesn’t suit everyone, or they are  traditional academic pathways which don’t necessarily provide the on-the-job skills companies require. 

One of the newer routes – Digital Academies that are launched by technology organisations – can create and deliver programmes that truly meet industry needs and that are more flexible for individuals wishing to train in this area. . Some of these, like Headforwards’ Digital Academy, for instance, can train up business-ready junior developers in as little as 16 weeks.

Today’s biggest tech hiring challenges

The rapid emergence of new technologies means it can be increasingly difficult for CIOs to find the software talent they need. This is exacerbated by their current budgetary pressures and pressurised timescales to create flexible, scalable software solutions that are tailored to their exact business needs. This is an acute problem for SMEs who lack the resources of their larger peers.

The struggle to recruit suitable junior developers comes down to the fact that although individuals might have on paper the tech skills for the roles including a number of programming languages, these people aren’t necessarily ready to work in a development team environment.  This means that they lack an understanding of how to engage with clients, to take a brief on a project, and ascertain from a client what they’re trying to achieve. 

Often the client will have little idea on the technical solution, but will have detailed knowledge of the problem they are trying to solve or the opportunity they are keen to exploit. The skills to work with a client without bombarding them with technical jargon, are skills that need to be learned and often this aspect is missed in university degree programmes.

It is costly and time consuming for existing teams to absorb junior developers with limited client-facing, problem solving and teamworking skills. Typically, it’s at least six months in most cases before these general tech graduates are ready to interact with clients. The amount of input required from senior developers can put time and financial pressure on the business.

How digital academies can help

A digital academy can deliver tech training and digital upskilling to an organisation’s workforce, as well as provide newly trained recruits that will be ready to work in their technical environment. Typically, a digital academy which is managed by a technology organisation will harness the expertise of software engineering and technology specialists to help individuals and organisations gain both the technical skills and mindset shift they need to succeed in a technology role.

Digital academies work in different ways, but at Headforwards we provide the opportunity for people to go from zero programming knowledge to the point of being a junior developer in 16 weeks. The course prepares individuals to start in the industry as programmers, developers, and software engineers. Most importantly it’s about giving participants an understanding of how a general day in tech works and how they would approach working life. They participate in live projects so that they can demonstrate to employers the skills they have learned, which enables them to find work quickly.

The programme gives an introduction to a range of programming languages, including python, Javascript, C#, and also touches on other less familiar languages. The concept is to equip individuals with in-depth skills in a range of languages and the confidence to apply transferable skills to new languages without being daunted. The programme also reinforces the importance of admitting that none of us know everything and to not be afraid to speak up and say if it’s not an area they’ve worked with before, but confident to give it a try. This integrity and willingness to be flexible is important in the tech world. 

Accessing candidates with business-ready tech skills

In terms of how this supports recruitment, our junior developers have more than just the on-paper technical skills. The programme is structured so that there’s a stand-up briefing at the beginning of each day as to the aim of the day and what it will cover. There are group working sessions, extensive personal study and programming projects and then a stand down at the end of every day where participants feed back to the team on what’s gone well and what hasn’t, helping to fix any glitches. The training is modelled entirely on the basis of a real day’s development work. 

This ensures the individual has more appropriate skills and makes the induction and onboarding process less onerous for employers. The programme prepares people more thoroughly for employment within a tech company.

How to find business-ready developers

It’s no surprise that we’re going to need a significant number of developers over the next few decades, even in the next three to five years.  Employers will have to find ways to access this talent and take different avenues depending on the size of business or business need. These are some of the options to support the growth of  their development teams:

• Digital academies: A digital academy provides access to a pool of exceptional talent. Working with a digital academy to share the skills and attributes you are looking for to support your business, will mean the academy is well placed to match your needs to an appropriate participant. If you have a small team, digital academies can often provide initial ongoing mentoring support to lighten the load.

• Work with a digital academy to start your own training programme for your organisation: If you’re looking to take on more like 20-30 people a year, you could start your own bespoke  training programme, with support from a digital academy. It’s recommended to consider candidates from beyond the tech world who might have worked in other business roles, been carers or  parents. Sometimes those with these life skills and a more rounded approach combined with technical skills will see them rise more quickly through the ranks than if they’d come without any of that.

• Review existing processes for training or onboarding new recruits: It’s important to allow a little time and space for people to grow into the role. But a digital academy can help to reduce that really intensive period where you’ve got a new hire you’re paying for that is adding very little value to the company for a long period of time. It also better prepares an individual to adjust to a new environment where they are working with people for the first time.

• Look beyond traditional pathways: Traditional learning in tech is becoming outdated – a computer science degree often isn’t meaningful enough and graduates almost need to relearn the job to take a job.  Junior developers are much more likely to do a job successfully when coming from a dedicated training session.

Investing and empowering junior developers for success

Whichever route hiring managers choose to explore to find new development talent, financial investment is going to be required. This will either be through committing to long term traditional programmes or working with a digital academy to identify the right skills. In finding a developer through a digital academy the saving is significant.

An employer might invest £8000 in the programme, which will require two weeks of the new recruit to get them functional. The alternative is significantly tougher – they may invest little in terms of training but spend six months-plus in training and supporting someone that they should be charging out to the business. Empowering a junior developer to be able to advise clients from their earliest weeks is better for the developer, the team and the business

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