Matthew Wilson has five job openings he can't fill at his small, Canberra-based company. And that's right now, never mind the rest of the year.
What industry has such an unquenched thirst for skills? Cyber security.
Mr Wilson is chief executive at the firm Penten, which has grown from four staff 2?? years ago to 40 people today. The firm specialises in protecting super-sensitive government and defence information, and has developed software that protects military drones by sending out artificially intelligent decoys.
"If I had the people, I would be able to fill those [jobs] today," he said. "And that's just today. That doesn't include the forecasts that I've got for the rest of the year. We should be about 50 people by mid-year to meet our current order book and my grand concern right now is our ability to get to that point."
Mr Wilson was speaking at the launch of new TAFE courses that will for the first time in Australia give students certificate and diploma qualifications in cyber security. The industry is warning it will need an additional 11,000 specialists over the next decade.
Helping launch the courses, Cybersecurity Minister Angus Taylor said Australian firms across the economy were "crying out" for people with these skills.
"The truth is, the crooks are on your phone and they're in your home if you're not aware and you're not looking after all your IT gear. This is a very real issue for all of us," he said.
The cyber security industry will grow from about $2 billion in turnover to $6 billion over the next decade, according to AustCyber, an organisation that works with the government to develop the industry.
"We need the skills," Mr Taylor said. "We absolutely need more young Australians who are excited about technology getting into this sector ??? There few career opportunities that are better than this one, with more job opportunities. Get into it, because there really are wonderful opportunities for you to build up a long and sustained career."
Students can now study cyber security at many Australian universities, but the new TAFE courses will be the first certificate and diploma qualifications.
Mr Wilson said companies were starting to see graduates come out of university courses, but the industry was growing too fast, because skills were needed not just at specialised firms but at every organisation from government departments to banks to the mining industry.
"Suddenly you've gone from the industry sucking up individuals itself to every single enterprise in the world building a significant cyber team from zero," he said. "They need people."
