In the second quarter of this year, the demand for information technology (IT) engineers surged as Japan had moved some of its software projects from China to Vietnam, the Saigon Times Daily reported.

In the past few months, enterprises such as FPT Software, Global Cybersoft and Fujinet recruited hundreds of information technology (IT) engineers. Some even asked for 50-100 engineers at once.

The human resource department of Global Cybersoft said the company needed more than 150 engineers last month and this. For this whole year, it needs more than 500 engineers and apprentices.

FPT Software Ho Chi Minh City Co. Ltd said it would need 900 engineers this year to expand its business for Japanese and North American markets.

Some training centres and companies providing IT manpower in HCM City this year are in need of thousands of students with a good command of Japanese.

Among them is Esuhai Co. Ltd., which is seeking to recruit IT students in order to provide laborers for Japanese enterprises.

At a conference to develop IT manpower held by the Ministry of Information and Communications in early June, To Hong Nam, a representative of the ministry’s IT Department, said from now until 2020, IT schools and centres will provide around 600,000 IT workers for the market.

Currently, IT colleges are finding it difficult to meet the growing demand for high-quality manpower of companies in the country and abroad as well.

In order to have a high-quality and skillful staff, some software outsourcing companies have to offer high salaries to attract IT engineers.

According to local software firms, Japanese enterprises often offer their engineers higher salaries compared to Vietnamese firms.

A Vietnamese firm would pay a new graduate engineer 500-600 USD per month while a certain Japanese firm would pay 2,000 USD per month, they said. In the past six months, Japanese firms attracted most IT workers in Vietnam.-VNA