Game developers facing skills shortageJust can't find the staffBy Stewart MeagherTuesday, 3 March 2009, 13:31GAMING TRADE ASSOCIATION TIGA has surveyed 100 UK-based game developers and found that, despite the daily dump of economic doom and gloom served up by the world's media, there are plenty of jobs in the gaming industry if you have the right skills.In fact, of those surveyed, 63 per cent had faced some sort of skills shortage in the last year with 74 per cent of those finding it hard to fill programmer vacancies.Spokestiga Richard Wilson said, "I just don't believe it," [Sorry couldn't resist].i-dont-believe-itWhat he really said was, "Ultimately, the skill shortages that are holding back the games industry will only be surmounted by improving standards in mathematics and sciences in schools, thereby increasing the potential supply of skilled people available for work in the games industry."The national curriculum should also be made more flexible to give schools the freedom to teach subjects such as computer science."A career in the video games industry should be promoted in school, not least to encourage more young people to stick with science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects."The UK games industry was worth over £4 billion in 2008.
