Spain Runs Out of Workers with Almost 5M Unemployed
From the article:<p>&quot;Pimentel’s client asked him for list of candidates trained in “Agile” project management techniques for helping companies boost their productivity by using more I.T. systems. The client was offering as much as 200,000 euros ($220,000) a year -- almost 10 times the average salary in Spain.&quot;<p>So they&#x27;re willing to pay ten times the going rate, but they&#x27;re not willing to take the time to train anyone?<p>But wait; there&#x27;s more!<p>&quot;But such people are thin on the ground in Spain. It takes at least eight months for an experienced software developer to earn an Agile qualification and <i>they also need the ability to deal with senior executives</i>, limiting the pool of people who could potentially fill the roles.&quot;<p>Again, note that they&#x27;re willing to pay ten times the going rate, so training them for eight months and then paying them the regular wage would pay for itself after a few months on the job; but they still won&#x27;t train.  More importantly, look at the part which I italicized.  Dealing with senior executives takes special skill?  I am but a lowly suburban nerd, and the ways of my betters intimidate me, so could someone enlighten me as to what that journalist is talking about?  I have a sneaking suspicion that Clay Shirky knows.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.shirky.com&#x2F;weblog&#x2F;2013&#x2F;11&#x2F;healthcare-gov-and-the-gulf-between-planning-and-reality&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.shirky.com&#x2F;weblog&#x2F;2013&#x2F;11&#x2F;healthcare-gov-and-the-...</a><p>&quot;Back in the mid-1990s, I did a lot of web work for traditional media. That often meant figuring out what the client was already doing on the web, and how it was going, so I’d find the techies in the company, and ask them what they were doing, and how it was going. Then I’d tell management what I’d learned. This always struck me as a waste of my time and their money; I was like an overpaid bike messenger, moving information from one part of the firm to another. I didn’t understand the job I was doing until one meeting at a magazine company.<p>&quot;The thing that made this meeting unusual was that one of their programmers had been invited to attend, so management could outline their web strategy to him. After the executives thanked me for explaining what I’d learned from log files given me by their own employees just days before, the programmer leaned forward and said “You know, we have all that information downstairs, but nobody’s ever asked us for it.”<p>&quot;I remember thinking “Oh, finally!” I figured the executives would be relieved this information was in-house, delighted that their own people were on it, maybe even mad at me for charging an exorbitant markup on local knowledge. Then I saw the look on their faces as they considered the programmer’s offer. The look wasn’t delight, or even relief, but contempt. The situation suddenly came clear: I was getting paid to save management from the distasteful act of listening to their own employees.&quot;<p>EDIT: formatting