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Industry Integrated Engineering and Computing Education pp 135–159Cite as

Factors Affecting the Success of IT Workforce Development: A Perspective from Thailand’s IT Supervisors and Internship Students

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Abstract

Background and purpose: In the age of globalization, Thailand is one of many countries in which most industries require large numbers of IT workers. However, there is today a significant shortage of IT-competent workers in many industries, particularly among the digital/IT industries and the reasons for the shortfall need to be explored. Therefore, the research described examines the critical factors affecting the development of the IT workforce to meet industry requirements through work integrated learning (WIL) programs and proposes a four-stage model to assist future workers to reach the standards necessary for IT careers.

Design/method/approach: The research employed a qualitative approach to answer the research questions and collected data in semi-structured interviews. The population was divided into two groups: private companies and government organizations in Thailand and IT students. The interviews were transcribed and the content was analyzed using content analysis by coding themes and categories.

Results/anticipated outcome: Several factors influence the development of the IT workforce. The main issues include people’s readiness to learn, their essential skills, the knowledge needed at work, the working environment, proper training methods, and IT career advancement.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that those involved in higher education should recognize the issues that influence the development of the IT workforce. Various aspects were identified by both the representatives of the organization and the future IT workers interviewed which were relevant to the planning of education policy. However, the study’s results are limited by being restricted to the perceptions of the participants who were either from the IT industry or were internship students. The range of the groups studied may need to be considered in future studies to broaden the perspectives considered.

Keywords

  • Critical factor
  • Employee development
  • Information technology career
  • ICT industry
  • IT worker

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Arts, Media and Technology, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

    Veeraporn Siddoo & Worawit Janchai

  2. Faculty of Technology and Environment, Prince of Songkla University, Phuket, Thailand

    Jinda Sawattawee

Authors
  1. Veeraporn Siddoo
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  2. Jinda Sawattawee
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  3. Worawit Janchai
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Veeraporn Siddoo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. President Office, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    Dr. Mahmoud Abdulwahed

  2. College of Engineering & Office of Research Support, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    Prof. Dr. Abdelaziz Bouras

  3. IUT Lumière, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, France

    Dr. Laurent Veillard

Appendices

Appendices

Appendix A: Demographic of Organizations

Participant Position Industry type IT experience (year) Mentoring experience (year)
P1 IT Manager Tourism 10 Yes (>5)
P2 Founder Technology, ICT 20 Yes (>5)
P3 IT Manager Technology, ICT 17 Yes (>5)
P4 IT Manager Technology, ICT 20 Yes (>5)
P5 IT manager Technology, ICT 8 Yes (>5)
P6 IT Manager/Founder Technology, ICT 15 Yes (>5)
P7 IT Project Manager Technology, ICT 20 Yes (>5)
P8 IT Specialist Technology, ICT 18 Yes (>5)
P9 IT Specialist Technology, ICT 18 Yes (>5)
P10 IT Technical and Sale Engineer Technology, ICT 17 Yes (>5)
P11 Project Manager Technology, ICT 12 Yes (>5)
P12 Sale Manager Technology, ICT 15 Yes (>5)
P13 Senior Graphic Designer Technology, ICT 12 Yes (>5)
P14 Senior Graphic Designer Technology, ICT 15 Yes (>5)
P15 Senior Programmer Technology, ICT 10 Yes (>5)
P16 Senior Programmer Technology, ICT 5 Yes (>3)
P17 Senior Programmer Technology, ICT 5 Yes (>3)
P18 Senior System Administrator Technology, ICT 17 Yes (>5)
P19 Senior System Analyst Technology, ICT 10 Yes (>5)
P20 Senior System Analyst Technology, ICT 20 Yes (>5)
P21 System Engineer Technology, ICT 10 Yes (>5)
P22 Senior System Administrator Resources, Energy 17 Yes (>5)
P23 IT Manager Property, Construction 17 Yes (>5)
P24 Senior IT Staff Health, Medical Technology 20 Yes (>5)
P25 Chief of Board of Directors Section Government, State enterprise 20 Yes (>5)
P26 Computer Technical Officer (expertise) Government, State enterprise 20 Yes (>5)
P27 Senior Programmer Government, State enterprise 10 Yes (>3)
P28 Assistant Vice President Financials, Bank, Insurance 20 Yes (>5)
P29 IT manager Financials, Bank, Insurance 21 Yes (>5)
P30 Senior System Analyst Financials, Bank, Insurance 18 Yes (>5)
P31 Senior System Analyst Financials, Bank, Insurance 17 Yes (>5)
P32 Senior System Analyst Financials, Bank, Insurance 17 Yes (>5)
P33 Senior Tester Financials, Bank, Insurance 17 Yes (>5)
P34 Software Engineer Financials, Bank, Insurance 15 Yes (>5)

Appendix B: Demographic of WIL Students

Students’ career groups Interviewee number Total Industry sector Gender
IT Non-IT Male Female
Digital content/internet/SEO/marketing S1–S14 14 9 5 7 7
Hardware/network S15–S16 2 1 1 2 0
IT auditing/testing/QA S17 1 1 0 1 0
MIS S18–S23 6 2 4 5 1
Programming S24–S65 42 40 2 30 12
Web design/graphic S66–S81 16 11 5 4 12

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Siddoo, V., Sawattawee, J., Janchai, W. (2019). Factors Affecting the Success of IT Workforce Development: A Perspective from Thailand’s IT Supervisors and Internship Students. In: Abdulwahed, M., Bouras, A., Veillard, L. (eds) Industry Integrated Engineering and Computing Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19139-9_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19139-9_9

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