The creative industries are also in a serious need of digital skills. The gap there is quite big and the competition is fierce.

Government and industry-backed UK initiative NextGen Skills Academy has created a new qualification to help provide the digital skills currently in demand by the creative industries, ComputerWeekly reports. The course has been created specifically to address the digital skills gap in the games, animation and visual effects (VFX) industries, which are worth a combined £6bn to the UK economy.

“From creating visual effects for the latest TV or movie blockbuster to developing the next video game sensation, students of the exciting new Level 3 Extended Diploma in Games, Animation and VFX Skills will be given all the tools they need to become the next generation of digital creatives”, says Gina Jackson, MD of NextGen Skills Academy.

The course has been developed with the help of many industry specialists and employers. The goal is to be as relative as possible and to answer the creative industry’s serious hunger for digital skills.

More than half of the jobs available in the games industry require coding and programming, as do 22% of those in the VFX industry, says NextGen. This is not a surprise since coding for video games is very complex and requires serious skills that are comparable to coding for finance and even for scientific software. This means that qualified coders are few and the demand for them is big.

Software skills are also needed – with 64% of jobs in the animation industry, 31% of those in the games industry and 69% of those in the VFX industry having vacancies in this area. A total of 47% of employers say the vacancies are hard to fill since the companies simply can’t find qualified people.

Students have already started to go towards these subjects in the universities but most of them are still learning and will take at least a couple of years untill they are ready to work. Furthermore, they would still not be enough to satiate the market.

Companies and organizations are trying to battle this by developing more and more tranings in the field. They try not to make them feel like school as many people don’t like that. Instead, they are aiming to resembe real-life working scenarios and sometimes they even involve actual code and programming from the company. This is a better way to check out the capabilities of the students and trainees and see who shows potential.

So, if you are a quick learner or seek a career, check out developing in the field of software and programming skills. If you become qualified enough, you will be spoiled for choice from potential employers.