IT’S a developing phenomenon in Myanmar – a lack of skilled labour – but one that’s hardly unique to the nation. Those individuals with training, a few connections and some good old-fashioned entrepreneurial grit are increasingly looking abroad for the money such positions can provide.
And the software and computing industry is generally one of the hardest hit, industry sources say.
But that doesn’t mean that company managers within industry are giving up hope: They are instead continually looking for ways to get around the issue.
Daw Khin Khin Saw, general manager of ACE Data Systems Ltd, said one method her company employs is to put a premium on in-house training – both domestically and overseas.
“We provide a range of training opportunities to our employees so that we’ve usually got a pool of potential replacements on hand if there are any vacancies,” she said.
She added that the company also fast tracks graduates produced by the in-house training school, which she said are better trained for the exact jobs the company handles.
“About 90 percent of our employees are graduates of our training school,” she said.
For Daw Ni Ni Tun, a senior general manager at Myanmar Information Technology Pte Ltd, it’s all about training and providing good conditions for workers.
“We offer on-the-job training programs for computer graduates after they’ve completed one of our programs and are looking for industry experience,” she said.
One company, Integra Systems Ltd, is trying to attract and retain staff by offering workers their own slice of the company.
“We’re aiming to motivate our employees with our ‘employee share ownership plan’, which allows our employees to earn a share of the company’s profits,” said Ko Sai Nay Htut, the sales manager at Integra Systems.
But the brain drain is happening nonetheless and one area it’s being most keenly felt is in software development, where new graduates or trainees are no substitute for the loss of older, more experienced workers.
“As most skilled programmers go abroad to find better jobs, local companies are forced to fall back on newly hired workers, who are very rarely as efficient or effective as the employees who have left,” said Ko Sai Nay Htut.
Another industry analyst said the lack of skilled workers is hampering the development of new software programs and hampering the trouble-shooting of those already on the market.
He warned that this also limited the emergence of new companies. “The skilled labour shortage slows the development of new software and stops new companies from emerging,” he said.
Several industry sources identified 2004 as the time that Myanmar’s computing brain drain, however, they were unable to explain why. What is more tangible is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: Skilled computer programmers generally go to Singapore, where average salaries can easily reach S$2500 a month.
