Brazil's Shortage of IT Professionals Will Reach 161 Thousand by 2019
Network evolution and digitalization have posed new challenges for professionals skilled in developing and managing robust, flexible network infrastructures
Demand for workers specializing in Information Technology and Telecommunications in Latin America will exceed the supply of jobs by 2019. According to The Network Skills in Latin America study, commissioned by Cisco from IDC, the region will lack 449 thousand professionals to fill open positions by the end of the decade. Brazil has the region's largest networking skills gap: in 2015 alone, the country had a shortage of 195 thousand skilled, full-time professionals, a number expected to decrease to 161 thousand by 2019.
The study was conducted in 10 countries and analyzed the availability of ICT specialists in Latin America between 2015 and 2019. IDC conducted 760 interviews in eight Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. Interviews were segmented by vertical industries and segment size: government, healthcare, education, telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing, retail/wholesale, media/broadcasting and publishing, travel, transportation and distribution, resources, and services at companies with more than 100 employees.
Last year, the region had a shortage of 474 thousand networking professionals, and although there is a slight decrease of 1,4% in demand projected for 2019, infrastructure evolution and digitalization have posed new challenges for companies.
“We are moving rapidly into an era of accelerated digitalization, where technology connects everything – people, processes, data, and things. And these connections will create a sustainable impact on society in every respect,” says Jordi Botifoll, Cisco President for Latin America and Senior Vice President in the Americas. “By embracing digitalization, Latin America can become a leader in the next generation of jobs, social inclusion, research, and education, but we need to work together to fill the region's skills gap”.
Cisco notes that emerging networking technology requires workers skilled in video, cloud, mobility, datacenter & virtualization, big data, cybersecurity, Internet of Things (IoT), and software development, in addition to basic skills. Moreover, the ICT professionals in demand must develop other nontechnical skills, such as English proficiency, teamwork, problem-solving, project management, creativity and innovation, communication skills, and an entrepreneurial attitude.
Overall, this gap forces companies and governments to face the challenge of finding the right skills to drive innovation and global competitiveness. According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a 10% increase in broadband penetration in Latin America can represent a 3,9% increase in GDP and 2,61% in a country's productivity. This makes a joint effort by academia, governments, and the private sector important to increase the number of qualified professionals, contributing to accelerated economic growth, improving productivity, and creating new jobs.
Women
Another factor measured by the study concerns women's inclusion. On average, women's participation in the networking segment is 13,3%; currently, 15,3% of companies have no women on their networking teams. According to UNESCO, women account for 31 % of Computer Science students in Latin America. The study shows that there is still room for improvement in the region in this regard.
Brazil's numbers
The survey revealed that Brazil has the largest overall networking skills gap, both in absolute and percentage terms.
According to the model used in the study, in 2015 the Brazilian market had a gap of 195.365 skilled, full-time professionals, decreasing to 161.581 in 2019. These numbers represent a gap of 41% in 2015 and 35% in 2019, respectively – with half of these unfilled positions requiring people who understand emerging technologies.
The study emphasizes that Brazil is currently experiencing a political and economic crisis unlike anything the country has seen in decades, but the dynamism of technology spending by both businesses and consumers still generates unmet demand (even with rising unemployment).
“Despite the policies adopted, the gap remains high. This trend, however, should be slightly corrected through ongoing government and private-sector efforts to develop skilled ICT professionals and a more stable, adjusted labor cost structure,” Cisco states.
Because of the size of Brazil's economy, the country will continue to need networking professionals and will not be able to close the gap during the study period. The domestic market's high potential creates growing demand for services in all segments, especially at medium-sized companies.
Many datacenter service companies established operations in the country because of high tariffs on imported goods and cloud regulations requiring information to remain physically in Brazil. According to the IDC study, this drove additional demand for professionals, widening the skills gap.
The study also shows a more mature understanding of networking in Brazilian companies. 45% of companies view the network as the platform supporting business processes, higher than the Latin American average of 37%.
Furthermore, investment in new emerging technologies in Brazil is considerable: 38% of Brazilian companies will invest in IoT projects in the short term, more than in any other Latin American country. All these factors make it harder to hire networking professionals with the right skill set.
(*) Cisco corrected the published figure. Instead of 179 thousand, there will be 161 thousand unfilled jobs by 2019.
Links
- Shortage of IT Professionals
- http://www.cbsi.net.br/2015/01/oportunidades-na-area-de-ti-deficit-de.html
- http://www.cbsi.net.br/2017/04/mercado-de-ti-no-canada.html
- http://www.cbsi.net.br/2017/04/em-santa-catarina-sobram-oportunidades-de-ti.html
- http://www.cbsi.net.br/2017/04/83-mil-profissionais-de-ti-podem-ficar-desempregados-nos-proximos-3-anos.html
What actually happened
The study's timeframe ended in 2019. Nine years later, we can check the score — and the conclusion is as uncomfortable as possible: the gap did not close; it grew.
Today's numbers
Data from Brasscom, the technology companies' association, tells the story in two lines:
- Brazil graduates around 53 thousand technology professionals per year.
- Annual demand is approximately 159 thousand.
That is a three-to-one shortfall, every year, accumulating over time. Projections point to more than half a million missing professionals cumulatively through 2026 — well above the 161 thousand predicted by the 2016 study. And it is not for lack of investment: the estimate is R$ 774 billion in digital transformation through 2028, concentrated in cloud, artificial intelligence, and data.
What changed structurally
1. Remote work internationalized the market — in both directions. This is the biggest change since 2017, and the original study could not have predicted it. Senior Brazilian professionals are now hired by companies in the United States and Europe without leaving home, paid in dollars or euros. This is great for those with English skills and seniority — and exactly why the average Brazilian company feels the shortage even more: it now competes for the same professional with employers paying in another currency.
2. The skills changed names. The 2017 list mentioned cloud, mobility, big data, and IoT. The 2026 list mentions Kubernetes, observability, platforms and CI/CD, data engineering, and above all, security — which stopped being a separate role and became the responsibility of everyone putting things into production.
3. AI changed the entry point, not the top. The most discussed effect in today's market: coding assistants handle much of the repetitive work that used to be a junior's learning ladder. The practical result is not “fewer IT jobs” — it is fewer purely junior positions and a greater expectation that beginners arrive ready to produce. Those starting out need to show their own projects, not just certificates.
4. Hiring through a legal entity became the norm. Much of today's technology hiring in Brazil is PJ contracting, not CLT employment. This changes salary calculations — the gross amount looks higher, but without the 13º salary payment, vacation, FGTS, and INSS. Do the math before comparing offers.
What aged well in the 2017 text
Two things, and both remain the post's best advice:
English. In 2017 it was a checklist item; in 2026 it is the sharpest dividing line in a Brazilian IT career. It separates local jobs from international ones, and the compensation difference between them is often measured in multiples, not percentages. Documentation, compiler errors, issue discussions, interviews: all in English.
Women's participation. The study reported 13,3% women on networking teams, with 15,3% of companies having none. The number has improved since then, but slowly, and infrastructure remains the most imbalanced area of all. It is talent being wasted in a market that complains of a shortage.
If you are starting now
- Choose a foundation and go deep. Linux, networking, and a little programming open almost every infrastructure door. The terminal commands are the alphabet.
- Build a lab. An old server, a VM, a Raspberry Pi. Employers look at what you have done, not what you have watched.
- Certification still matters — especially in infrastructure. Linux certification paths are mapped here on the blog.
- English from day one. Do not postpone it until after “learning the technical part.” Both go together.
- Learn to use AI as a partner, not a crutch. Those who review what the model writes get faster; those who approve without reading do not learn or advance. How to do this is covered in AI assistants on the Linux terminal.
Where this career leads, with the fastest-growing roles: In-demand IT roles in Brazil.