As the demand for developers in semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), and autonomous driving explodes, concerns are being raised that not only small businesses but also mid-sized and large corporations will face a shortage of developers in the future and fall behind in the development of cutting-edge technologies due to a lack of embedded developers who can design and develop chips and products used in these fields.

According to recent reports from the electronics industry, there is a serious shortage of embedded developers. It was revealed that even experienced workers, including new recruits, are unable to be hired, and there are many cases where there is not a single applicant for a job opening.

It has been reported that some companies are experiencing a serious situation where they are requesting outsourcing to companies specializing in embedded development to handle development as if they were company developers due to the lack of developers and their development functions being paralyzed.

In the case of outsourcing requests, it is known that it is difficult to lead to an actual outsourcing contract due to the low cost compared to the actual effort invested and the work such as maintenance management rather than simple development.

This situation is now expanding beyond small and medium-sized businesses to include medium-sized businesses, and the industry predicts that the situation will spread to large corporations within the next few years.

The lack of developers is analyzed as being due to the poor basic treatment of embedded developers.

In the case of embedded developers, due to the nature of their work, working all night is the norm and there are many cases where excessive working hours and the resulting stress are accompanied, but in reality, the compensation they receive is lower than that of other electronics occupations.

In particular, to become an embedded developer, sufficient education in software and hardware is required, and systematic education and practice to be able to program, not just learn a development language, are required.

This is because it requires a lot of personal effort to become a developer, so no one easily jumps into a difficult job that doesn't pay well.

The industry says that especially for students, there are no role models for embedded developers, so they do not feel the need to become developers and do not even try to learn.

This vicious cycle has been repeated in recent years, and now there are no new developers who can develop embedded systems, and even experienced developers are struggling with the high workload and low wages in the industry. I'm in the process of leaving.

For developers with extensive experience, as retirement approaches, there are frequent cases of them resigning due to high salaries, and the number of developers that remain is gradually decreasing.

In the midst of this, there is a recent shortage of semiconductor design personnel, so semiconductor manufacturers are putting their lives on the line to hire developers, offering high wages, and the government and academia are responding jointly. As a result, even talents who were interested in developers are flocking to large semiconductor companies, and there is talk that embedded personnel have dried up.

This phenomenon is expected to become more serious in the future.

This is because the demand for developers is exploding in future industries including artificial intelligence and autonomous driving, as well as core basic industries such as electronics and communications.

Accordingly, not only in Korea but also in advanced traditional electronics industries such as the US, Taiwan, and Japan, the shortage of developers is worsening, and a global shortage of developers is being faced.

In Korea, large companies in undesirable industries such as heavy equipment are already experiencing difficulties due to a shortage of developers.

Industry experts warned that if this situation continues, the country could fall behind other competing countries due to development delays in cutting-edge industries such as artificial intelligence and autonomous driving, in addition to the traditional electronics industry.

In addition, rather than simply operating a short-sighted educational program to foster developers, it was predicted that an influx of developers would occur if a foundation for success as developers was first created through investment in large-scale projects along with improvements in developer treatment.