Cuts are coming: is now the time to upskill?

When it comes to skills, the outlook for the technology industry can seem contradictory.

On the one hand, employers report continuing skills shortages. On the other, the job market is tightening, especially for early career professionals. New graduates struggle to find their first roles; more experienced workers fear redundancy as companies cut back. Developments in AI only add to the uncertainty.

But these trends are also changing the way the tech industry, and IT professionals, view training. Individuals are taking more responsibility for their development, including paying for training.

Options for training are changing too. Long courses and classroom-based learning have given way to micro credentials, cloud-based labs and what educators call “self-directed” learning. Demand for this can only grow, as both employers and individuals look to bolster their AI and wider digital skills.

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Ups and downs

Even so, the picture for training and education in technology is not universally positive. Internationally, spending on workforce training is growing. But UK businesses are spending less.

The corporate training market is projected to grow from $417.53 billion in 2025 to $439.82 billion in 2026, according to The Business Research Company’s Corporate Training Global Market Report 2026.

Pluralsight, a technology training provider, puts the global market for workforce training at a similar value of $400bn today, with annual growth at between 5 and 10%. According to Faye Ellis, principal training architect at Pluralsight, the tech skills market is growing faster at 18-22%. She expects it to triple in size by 2030.

“Organizations are still feeling the effects of skills gaps,” she tells ITPro. “As advances in AI, cloud computing and data analytics accelerate, organizations are going to see the need to continuously retrain their workforces. Estimates suggest that the majority of workers will require significant reskilling by the end of the decade.”

Pluralsight recently launched its AI Academy, to provide modular courses for professionals looking to deepen their understanding of the field. But the optimism of training providers such as Ellis stands in contrast to the actions of many UK businesses.

According to the Learning and Work Institute, an independent policy and research organization, UK employers spend half as much on training as their EU counterparts.

This is part of a longer term trend: the Department for Education found that employer-reported investment in training has declined each year since 2011, according to its Employer Skills Survey. When it comes to technology, only 6% of firms provided formal, digital skills training in the last year.

Some of this is understandable, given economic headwinds. But, as Nimmi Patel, associate director for policy at industry trade body TechUK tells ITPro, this is also a missed opportunity.

“Economic uncertainty doesn’t weaken the case for tech skills, but strengthens it. Companies that continue to upskill and retrain their workforce build resilience,” Patel explains. “Organizations that invest now are better equipped to respond to changing market demands.”

But this is of little comfort to industry professionals whose employers have cut back on training budgets, or struggle to find an early career job in the industry.

“Continued layoffs and hiring slowdowns in the tech industry have created a more competitive job market, particularly for entry-level roles,” concedes Ellis. Hiring at large tech companies is down 50%, she says, and 30% at start ups. “At the same time, organizations are shifting their strategies, reporting that upskilling existing employees is more cost effective than hiring new talent.”

Alexia Peterson, SVP International at publisher and training provider O’Reilly Media, agrees.

“Redundancy pressure is definitely accelerating the shift to skills-first learning in the UK,” she tells ITPro. “People are increasingly aware that employability now depends on keeping pace with fast moving areas like AI, cybersecurity and cloud.”

Sectoral shifts

All of this is shifting both supply and demand for training. According to Ellis, job security (or a lack of it) is a big driver for learning. Pluralsight believes that 65% of workers are considering reskilling, in response to job market conditions.

At the same time, training providers in both the commercial and public sectors are changing their offerings. Vendors, especially in cloud technology and cybersecurity, continue to invest in free to use training. Universities and paid-for providers are moving towards shorter, modular courses and microcredentials professionals can use to build up a qualification over time.

Munster Technological University, for example, started with a cyberskills programme five years ago and is adding courses in AI and cloud computing. As George O’Mahony, head of computer science at the university explains, students often take a short course or microcredential to see if the topic, and course, is right for them.

“Short-form courses are quite good to bridge an initial gap, and see if they like that kind of content,” he tells ITPro. “A lot of them might come back and jump into a part-time bachelor’s or MSc degree programme.”

Vitally, though, the training is both “100% online”, and practical: the university runs live, online lectures but also cloud-based, practical labs and cyber ranges. This ensures students can fit study around their work and home commitments, and ensure they build up experience. O’Mahony says this is essential, particularly if professionals are organizing their own learning.

Long-term skilling trends

And the shift to self-directed, and even self-funded, learning could be a longer-term trend across the technology industry.

The need for continuous professional development (CPD) is not new. But technology professionals are looking to both deepen their technical knowledge, and broaden their skills in areas such as management.

“The main motivation is keeping up with technological advancements, so they remain relevant, differentiate from others, and include proof, in the form of certifications, on their CVs,” Chris Dimitriadis, chief global strategy officer at security body ISACA, tells ITPro. “To be successful, one needs to adapt.”

But it is not just down to individuals to invest.

“The gap between what organizations need and the skills their teams currently have is significant, and growing,” he warns.

And businesses are taking a risk, if they rely on their employees to organise, and potentially fund, their own training. This is all the more so in areas such as security and AI.

Businesses are taking a risk if they rely on their employees to organize, and potentially fund, their own training. This is all the more so in areas such as security and AI.

“One of the biggest risks now is the AI trust paradox. People are using AI confidently, but often without the understanding to question what it’s producing,” warns Greg Hanson, head of EMEA at Informatica from Salesforce, a data analytics vendor.

“A lot of organizations have rolled out AI in low-risk areas, and are now being pushed to do something more transformative,” he tells ITPro. “But they don’t yet have the skills and data foundations in place to move forward with confidence.”

If businesses want to capture the benefits of new technology in a safe and secure way, then they need to invest in their people too. “You can’t outsource judgment to AI,” Hanson warns.