As insufficient numbers of IT professionals graduate from tertiary institutions the skills gap continues to widen.

Greg Vercellotti, executive director of Dariel Solutions, says graduate numbers are remaining the same or dropping, while requirements in the industry are constantly increasing.

“It’s a global problem, but SA is probably worse off than the rest of the world – we have a 10 to 15-year gap that needs to be plugged. If we’re to become an economy of knowledge workers, we need to get people through the system more quickly.”

Vercellotti says while university graduates have a good IT background and generic skills, they lack certain essential skills to perform in the workplace. “For instance, universities will teach a general programming style, whereas we require them to know specific styles for the type of system they’re writing.”

One solution, he says, is to send employees on multiple short, focused and practical programmes, which allow them to apply immediately what they have learnt.

He says BSc and engineering programmes tend to focus on hard skills, but soft skills are equally vital in the industry. “Technologists can’t exist in a vacuum; they need to interact with clients. We find that people with good communication skills are a lot more successful than those without.

“People management is also important in getting people to work together as a team and deliver. We don’t usually do soft skills development as a once-off course, but weave it into our other programmes. It’s something you have to emphasise and reiterate.”

A further difficulty for the IT industry is insufficient numbers of maths and science matriculants coming out of the schooling system. Prof Barry Dwolatzky, professor of software engineering at Wits University, says this is a huge challenge that can only be resolved over the long term.

“If we are going to maintain and retain the South African software industry, which is world class and has been world class for decades, we need to find plans and approaches that can quickly produce more skills.”

Dwolatzky, who also runs the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE), says a short-term solution is to uplift the skills of people who have already entered the workplace.

“The master’s programme requires a postgraduate degree in engineering or computer science, but because such people are so employable, the feedstock for our programme is low.”

To address this challenge, the JCSE has developed a three-year continuing professional development course for people who have work experience but don’t have the prerequisite formal degree.

“This is our flagship programme, but we also offer a number of short courses, evening courses, public lectures and forums. Many courses tend to be vendor-oriented, but we’ve tried to retain a neutral mould to build a deeper education, rather than just skills training.”

The programme comprises four masters courses taught as continuing professional development courses.

“If they pass all courses with 60% we then make a case to allow them to enter Wits as a mature student,” says Dwolatzky. “They receive credits for the courses they’ve passed and can complete the part-time master’s in two more years.

“We aren’t targeting to produce hundreds of skilled people, but relatively small numbers of highly skilled people.

“I see skills as a triangle – you need few highly skilled people to support larger numbers of less skilled people, but if you don’t have the people at the top of the triangle, you can’t do the work that needs those less skilled people.”

Vercellotti says anyone, including schools and further education and training colleges, can contribute to the IT skills shortage, provided it’s done properly and with the right intent. “We’ve been pretty disappointed with some of the college type education houses – some of them just take money and run and have no care for the needs of individuals.

“You can’t have everybody coming out with a university degree, but also need the middle tier people with diplomas and good skills. You need all strata of workers – employees and entrepreneurs; that’s where every institution has a role to play.”

source: Business Day

This report is republished with permission from the author, Reuel Leach. You may contact him for more advise on saving money when using cellphones and Internet access on his cell 082 211 2619

Do you know what you are paying on your cellular bill every month. Maybe you do, but have you ever wondered what the networks costs are? Would you like to see something published on this subject? Read on. Its time that people started to get answers to these questions.

Lets start off with GSM. It’s a radio signal just like any radio frequency. You have a radio? You have a television, you pay a licence which is a minimum cost to get messages ( or Signals with information) to your home, office or car. With a radio frequency you choose which signal you want to pick up the messages you want to listen to or “watch”.

So what frequencies are there? Here are but a few common ones:

1.Short wave
2.Medium Wave
3.Frequency Modulation (FM)
4.Wi-Fi (Wireless)
5.Bluetooth
6.GSM
7.Edge
8.GPRS
9.UMTS (3G) which consists of data for internet and 3G video calls
10.HSDPA & HSUPA
11.Infrared

Lets focus now on the formats of some of these signals. What do I mean by that? Well, you listen to a CD with music of your favourite artist and its recorded in WAV format. You might be familiar to the more common format used called MP3. Now lets make a comparison with these two formats. WAV will give you 700 megabytes over 80 minutes and MP3 gives you about 70 MB ( megabytes ) over 80 minutes. When you record something with your cellphone, you might use AAC or a similar format which might give you around 2-4 megabytes an hour.

The format of GSM is AMR, it could be similar to AAC, but this is where the interesting part comes. Lets look at the speed of these frequencies. These are true speed real life situations, not what they tell you at the shops

True Speed example in South Africa

• GSM – 6 to 13 kilobits per second
• GPRS 1 to 6 kilobits per second
• EDGE 6 to 25 kilobits per second
• UMTS 30 to 120 kilobits per second
• HSDPA 50 to 200 kilobits per second

But if you tried to do a voice call over GPRS or EDGE you might find it a bit choppy. Ok here is the first big issue. A voice call can be easily done one EDGE using Skype or MSN and the maximum you will use is around 2.5 MB an hour. At the current data rates an unbundled GPRS? EDGE? 3G connection will cost you R2/MB which is the most expensive DATA rate. If you use a data bundle you will go as low as R0.19/MB so an hours call on Skype voice to voice will cost you in the region of R0.46 and R5 an HOUR! But if you use your normal Cellular phone for the same time, it will cost you R90 to R180 an Hour! So lets compare R0.46 to R180 an hour which most people are paying. Are you going to do something about this….

You should resort to these forms of technology:

1. Skype
2. Google Talk
3. Mxit
4. Nimbuzz

Heres the real shocker! Do you know what the most expensive form of communication in the world is. And it probably in South Africa. Its called SMS. Yes you thought it was cheaper than a call. Think again. Here is the simple price plan comparison

Let me explain this bit by bit. 1 sms is 160 characters. That includes the spaces in between. I you type an A4 page there is place for approximately 3680 characters with a font of 10 on it. Divide 3680 into 160 and that gives ou 23 sms messages. If you pay the normal day time rate it will cost you at 85 cents R19.55 PER PAGE and after hours at 35 cents an sms it costs you R8.05 so its far more than a page.

Let compare this to Skype or mxit this one page will be only 27 Kilobytes and at R2 per megabye it will cost you R0.05 cents per page and if you are using a data bundle then it will be as low as R0.005 per page!

Ok so what does an SMS cost us per Kilobyte?
1 sms = 140 bytes = 7.3142 sms = 1kb
85 cents x 7.3 = R6.21/kb

What does an SMS cost us per Megabyte?
1024 x R6.21 = R6359/mb
(normal data costs between R0.19 to R2.00 per megabyte)

What does an SMS cost us per Gigabyte
1024 x R6359 = R6 511 656 per GIGABYTE

So if you were to write or type a 2 page letter and put it in an envelope it will cost you around R2.50 to R3.00 depending on paper and stamp costs. If you had to type the equivalent in SMSs you will pay for a 2 page letter:- R39.10 so its R40 to send a letter.

No why are the networks so expensive. If technology has become so cheap, why have they not given us the GPRS SMS function which almost every cellular phone has the function of? It will cost us a few cents only. If you connect your cellular phone to a PC or had Skype capabilities you could do a full skype call on 3G or HSDPA signal for between R0.39 and R5 per hour or a video call at R2.34 and R24 per hour!

If you had to send someone a full WAV cd over the internet at R0.19 per megabyte it will cost you 700 x R0.19 which is R133.00 and that’s 80minutes of music. If you spoke at the average cellular call of R2.50 (hidden costs excluded) at 80 minutes you will pay R200 for the call. Your bit rate for the wave 8MB per minute and your cellular call is 0.360mb per minute! So the intensity and quality is much better!

I suggest that people all cut off their smss, get Mxit and Skype and call over those mediums to make calls and send messages until the networks in the future.

I reckon that Wou-daar-Kom and Empty-N don’t pay more than R0.39 to R0.40 per hour for your call!
If they are paying more than that they should discontinue this old technology and give us the better faster stuff I mentioned above!

You may download the original report with graphics using this link: Report on Cellular Pricing Reuel Leach.

If you decide to use Cyber Cafe’s please checkout listings on the Internet Cafe Directory.

You can either use pre-paid hotspots available at most hotels, airports, restaurants or you can use your own USB modem with a SA sim card, using pre-paid airtime. The easiest is Vodacom or MTN. Stay away from Cell C or Virgin Mobile as they do not offer anything above Edge. So purchase a pre-paid sim card from their shop at the airport and ask them how to load data bundles. Your laptop should be set-up to use it as is.

Regards
Ramon

On 2010/05/16 11:10 PM, ronel van rooyen wrote:
>
> On 14 May 2010 03:01, ronel van rooyen > > wrote:
>
> Hi
>
> I will be visiting your country soon.
>
> What wireless internet options are available in your country.?
>
> We have a mobile usb flash/modem with 3G wireless and have a pay-as-you-go system in my country.
>
> I wish not to spend time in a i-café
>
> Thanx
>
> claude
>
> —
> Coordinator; Africa For Haiti Campaign
> Tell: 011 833 5959 Ext 114
> Mobile: 076 191 0405
Share Social Bookmarks

Here’s some tips for children:

1. Never give out your full name or physical address. The less information about you on social networks the better.
2. Ensure that you use the maximum amount of privacy and only invite/accept friends that you actually know in the real world.
3. When someone posts a nasty comment on your social networking profile, delete it and remove/block them so they cannot do it again.
4. When someone talks to you about sexually explicit topics, stop talking and block them.
5. Tell your parents about anything unusual so they can help you deal with it.

Here’s some tips for parents:

1. Sit with your child and ask them to show you around the social networks they use.
2. Talk to your child about posting to many photos on the social networking sites because this puts them at greater risk from predators.
3. Encourage your children to talk openly about anyone who is stalking or harassing them online so you can help them through it.
4. Place limits on the amount of time you child spend on the Internet e.g. between 8am-8pm during the week or limited airtime on cellphones.
5. Use technology as a source of conversation over the dinner table to show your children you are interested in their world.
6. Don’t let technology be a substitute for parenting or experience. Spend time with your children doing other activities so they can learn how to do them and in the process bond with you.
7. Do your best to avoid violent computer games for your children because this conditions them to become desensitised to the same acts in the real world.

To book Ramon Thomas for a motivational talk on how to technology call 082 940 7137.

Market Related Basic Salary Neg

Permanent junior level position in the Information Technology sector in South Africa (Western Cape).

Posted by: Evrst Business Solutions on 24/03/2010 Ref #HG CJ Ref# 1076466

Description:

Ensuring shop is opened and closed at correct times
Performing daily duties, e.g. is shop clean, are cash-ups done correctly, is the float correct, were there any problems or complaints
Ensuring that the Cafe manual is up-to-date
Assisting clients with services offered, e.g. Internet, printing, scanning, faxing, binding
Ensure cash-ups are done correctly on a daily basis
Following up of cash-up problems
Ensuring that all products are noted on the point of sale
Ensure that there are always adequete staff to run the shop (Recruiting staff for Cafe)
Ensure that employees who work there knows how to use the equipment, especially the following items:

Konica Minolta Bizhub
SmartLaunch Point of Sale
Ensure that the shop is neat and tidy at all times
Managing the cleaning staff
Training of casuals on running the shop. The training manual should be part of the Cafe manual
Escalating important matters to technical support team and / or management
Weekly meeting on Cafe issues
Defining interview questions
This is a job that requires you to take RESPONSIBILITY. Self-discipline, conscientiousness and attention to detail is critical!

Requirements:

Matric
IT technical certificate/qualification
Reside in Stellenbosch or surrounds (not negotiable)
1-2 years experience in similar role (retail experience)
Proven experience in managing a “shop front”
Willingness to work shifts

Please send your latest CV to hanlie@evrst.com stating your salary requirement. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

This was announced a few days ago. And I would like to give some perspective before you read the official statement from MXit below.

MXit has been around for a number of years. And the media has enjoyed blaming MXit for everything from distribution of pornography to examination results dropping since its introduction. As a user of MXit on a daily basis, I found this tool to be one of the most revolutionary technologies ever created. The reason for this statement is that MXit truly provides a means of communicating without further enriching the mobile operators in South Africa.

So why did it take MXit so long to make this announcement? It does not matter any more. The importance of this announcement cannot be underestimated. When you are the leading technology in the mobile space with anywhere from 17 – 19 million users in this country, whatever stance you take will be taken seriously by other players in the same space. So what this statement below means is that other companies in the mobile Internet business will also have to make very serious commitments to fighting pornography and cyber criminals. More over, this statement, when it eventually filters down to parents and schools will encourage the prosecution of those who abuse the Mxit platform.

Remember you can book Ramon Thomas for a talk on the Psychology of Technology by calling 082 940 7137.

MXit declares war on porn and cyber criminals

25 March 2010 – MXit today announced a zero-tolerance policy against offenders who abuse its online community. Anyone posting explicit or offensive material in public areas within MXit will from now on be banned from its systems without warning.

“For too long, a group of less than 0.1% of our user base has tarnished our reputation with their continual abuse of our community through unsavoury, and sometimes criminal, behaviour,” says Herman Heunis, CEO and founder of MXit.

“Until very recently, we had great difficulty in identifying and tracking these degenerates, but with new developments, we are now in a situation where they leave a definite electronic footprint.

“Our users’ right to privacy is, and will always be, of paramount importance. We have no intention of imposing censorship on communication between users as their privacy is a constitutional right, just like private communication via letters, SMS, MMS, e-mails and other mediums. However, when someone publishes offensive content or uses our platform to prey on innocent people, we shall remove them from our system.

“Furthermore, any suspicious behaviour indicating possible criminal intention will be handed over to the Cybercrime Unit of the SAPS as currently required by law.

“Our foremost responsibility is to protect our 19+ million registered user base that makes up our community, and as such, we will do everything in our power to identify these offenders and help the authorities bring them to book,” says Heunis.

“Lastly, I want to strongly urge users never to exchange personal information with strangers, and certainly not to meet them in person. Inviting strangers to be your friend on MXit, or any other social network for that matter, is exactly the same as opening your front door without knowing who is on the other side. It just isn’t smart,” concludes Heunis.

Download my Parents Guide to MXit here…

First National Bank (FNB) and PayPal today announced that customers in South Africa can now sell to PayPal’s global customer base of more than 81 million active accounts in 190 markets around the world and move the proceeds to their FNB accounts. This new service allows customers to top up and withdraw funds to their qualifying FNB accounts from their PayPal accounts.

“We are especially pleased to make this announcement on the eve of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as South Africans will be able to join the global eCommerce marketplace. Our agreement with PayPal also enables international businesses and individuals to transact with South African service providers via a secure and convenient payment gateway”, says Michael Jordaan, FNB’s Chief Executive Officer.

“The exclusive top up and withdraw service with PayPal allows South Africans to make payments and receive money internationally without sharing their financial or personal information,” adds Jordaan.

FNB Customers can simply open a PayPal account and link it to a qualified FNB account and receive PayPal payments in 21 different currencies. FNB will convert the currency to South African Rand, when the money is transferred into their accounts.

This solution enables customers to top up their PayPal accounts anytime they want to send money or shop online with PayPal’s global base of merchants.

“FNB and PayPal have a similar focus on innovation, so it makes sense that we would work with FNB to make online payments even easier for merchants and consumers in South Africa,” said Oded Zehavi, head of PayPal’s business in Israel and South Africa.

“With South Africa’s solid financial infrastructure and its status as the continent’s largest economy, we’re optimistic about the future of eCommerce in this market and look forward to working with FNB on the opportunities ahead,” says Zehayi.

“The launch of PayPal sees FNB take another step forward as South Africa’s most innovative financial institution. It responds directly to our ‘how can we help you?’ brand promise,” concludes Jordaan.

The PayPal service will be offered in partnership with FNB and has received approval from the Exchange Control Department of the South African Reserve Bank.

My role as a technology evangelist is to bring the good news about technology to you. Well there is good news and there is bad news. And as with most people I’m sure you prefer the bad news first. A question I want you to ask yourself before I share that news with you is this: is technology really neutral or is it biased based on the inherent function that is is designed for?

Anyway here’s the bad news: there is a myth promulgated that in today’s society that social media is social interaction. How can you compare a conversation at a braai to a conversation on Twitter? How can you compare a conversation over the dinner table with a conversation on a Facebook discussion group? How can you compare an intimate conversation late at night with your lover to the same conversation using MXit?

It is my opinion that we’ve reached a stage in our evolution as the human species, in the 21st century, that we’ve become chronically dependant on technology. Children born after 1985 or 1990 cannot imagine a world without cellphones, 24 hour television or the Internet. What do I mean when I say chronic dependency? I simply mean that we do not even realise to what extent we rely on these technologies until they are taken away from us.

Think back to the last time your cellphone battery died. How did you feel? Think back to the last time your Internet connection was down for a few hours. How  did you feel? Think about the last time the electricity in your neighbourhood was down. How did you feel? Some of you may have felt anger, some may have felt disgust, or resentment. However, I would vouchsafe that the real feeling beneath the exterior aggression was one of helplessness.

Now when I posted this comment on my Twitter/Facebook status the first person stated that it is not wrong or right. Well I go on the record now by saying it wrong to believe that social media interaction is the same as social interaction without social media. They are not the same and they are certainly not equivalent. I came to this conclusion after speaking to at tens of thousands of people across South Africa for the last few years on the psychology of technology.

When you correlate the use of our 5 senses in communication with that of “communicating through the screen” you realise to what extent we’ve come to accept this substandard way of communicating as genuine. When you are texting or using MXit, you cannot see the other person, hear the other person, touch the other person, smell the other person, let alone taste the other person. So you are not using any of your 5 senses in the interaction. When you do not use your 5 senses you are making decisions based on an exceptionally limited amount of information.

Yes its my opinion after observing thousands of South Africans interact using MXit, Facebook, Internet Dating and other technologies and convincing themselves its the equivalent of social interaction or let me rather say, face to face interaction.

The facts remain that we are like zealots when justifying our chronic dependency on technology. Agree or disagree?

Johannesburg:- Smartphones have made a dramatic entry into corporate South Africa, far surpassing general consumer use or small business use.

This is a surprise finding from a new research study released today by World Wide Worx. The Mobile Corporation in SA 2010 report reveals that three quarters of South African companies have deployed smartphones within their organisations, compared to almost none two years ago.

The study, backed by First National Bank (FNB), leaders in cellphone banking in Africa, and Research In Motion (RIM), the developer of the BlackBerry solution, shows that saturation point has almost been reached by large South African companies in the use of fixed landlines (96%) and ordinary cellphones (92%). And, as forecast in 2007, 3G data card penetration has also reached near saturation, with 94% of large companies deploying it. Now the focus has turned to integration of smartphones with business processes.

“These results show that enterprise mobility solutions are no longer just nice to have. They’re essential for businesses that want to be competitive, responsive and efficient in a world where a customer won’t wait for a salesperson who is visiting customers and where project flow can’t stop because a manager is at a full-day meeting,” says Deon Liebenberg, Regional Director for Sub Sahara Africa at RIM. “Not only does mobility allow companies to improve internal efficiencies and communications, it also enables them to interact more effectively with their increasingly mobile customers.”

The study also showed that corporate South Africa expects to embrace the new world of online services to an extent that was not even anticipated as recently as one year ago.

“Until last year, concepts like Software as a Service (SaaS) and Cloud Computing were regarded as little more than buzzwords,” says Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx.

Yet, in the coming 24 months, 84% of South African corporations expect to have a SaaS strategy in place, and 60% expect to have adopted a Cloud Computing strategy.

“These aren’t technologies as such,” says Goldstuck. “They are strategies that make the organisation’s use of new technology more efficient. >From storage systems to software deployment, from hardware upgrades to network capacity to bandwidth, the focus is on cost-effectiveness, flexibility and mobility.”

Among the technologies expected to take off as a result of the SaaS and the Cloud Computing revolution are:

* Fixed-mobile convergence, with 72% of companies expecting to adopt systems that allow seamless connectivity between fixed and mobile networks;
* Virtualisation, with 65% expected to embrace this flexible and cost-effective approach to network and server technology;
* Outsourced storage and archiving systems, with half of large South African companies predicting they will be using it in the next 24 months.

The combined effect of these technologies is that, while the organisation’s buildings and infrastructure may still be confined to a specific site, its people, activities, information, documentation and data have been freed from location.

“We are literally seeing the foundations being laid for the company of the future,” says Goldstuck.

Liebenberg adds: “Smartphones are now mainstream devices within South African businesses, but the smartphone revolution has only just begun. Enterprises should now be looking at what smartphones mean for their businesses in a more strategic and holistic fashion. They need to work towards mobilising their core internal and customer-facing processes so that their employees can use ubiquitous connectivity to be productive and responsive wherever they are.”

The Mobile Corporation in SA 2010 forms part of the Mobility 2009 project, which included research among 1,000 consumers, 1 000 SMEs and 240 large enterprises in South Africa.

Contact

For more information, contact:

* Arthur Goldstuck, MD, World Wide Worx, on +27 11 782-7003 or by e-mail on arthur@worldwideworx.com
* Christa Botha, Corporate Communications: Sub-Sahara Africa Research In Motion, on +27 82 562 5264 or by e-mail on cbotha@rim.com

Enquiries for purchase of this report should be directed to Arthur Goldstuck

Due to unforeseen circumstances I’ve been forced to move the date of the next Internet Cafe workshop schedules for this Saturday. The primary reason for this is that I’ve been on a short break in Uitenhage and on Sunday missed my flight back to Johannesburg. My car has been parked at OR Tambo airport for 3 weeks and I have to drive directly to Rustenburg from Tuesday till Thursday to deliver 7 talks to parents, teachers and children at Selly Park Convent Primary School, Selly Park High School, Fields College Primary School. Fields College High School and Lebone II.

So the new date is Thursday, 18 March 9am-5pm. And the venue remains Sandton Library on Nelson Mandela Square. Any queries? Please post your questions below as comments. More updates will be posted on this announcement.