Randi Zuckerberg: Over 500,000 Open Computing Jobs in U.S. Not Being Filled
Zuckerberg Media Founder and CEO Randi Zuckerberg says American companies need to make investments to close an expanding technology "skills gap."
“A Code.org study that I saw showed there are right now over 500,000 open computing jobs in this country right now that are not being filled and when you look at the stats, there’s only about 40,000 computer science majors that are graduating every single year from schools here in the country,” Zuckerberg told the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney. “That is a skills gap of hundreds of thousands of jobs that are just sitting open and if we don’t have folks inside this country who can do it, well then, we’re going to have to expand the reach and look outward.”
Faced with a lack of qualified applicants graduating from college to fill those computing jobs, Zuckerberg says tech companies can help close that gap by investing in their own employees. “I think companies need to invest more in continuing education because even hiring someone, the best and the brightest today, their skills are going to be outdated ten years from now when we see where technology is going and how fast it’s changing.”
Starting salaries for computer science and coding graduates remain high as companies fight for the best talent. "For good coders, you’re definitely looking at over six figures a year right out of college,” said Zuckerberg.