Tech brain drain

Ever since the invention of the silicon chip, information technology in all its forms has been changing and improving exponentially. The entire globe is in a race to keep up with the changes, and the Maldives is not any different. However, why do we observe a brain-drain of potential Maldivian tech talent?

To realise the full extent of the brain-drain issue in the Maldives, it is important to understand the state of Maldivian tech industry specialists. Being a small nation with a very high rate of literacy compared to neighbouring countries, the Maldives has a firm foundation upon which people can branch out and specialise in niche fields. With our dispersed population, dependance on telecommunications has always been high on our individual list of priorities. This has also opened the doors for a lot of globalisation on our part, and one of the influences that was felt most strongly was in the rampant development and evolution of the technology field.

If you ask anyone who has been in the Maldivian tech field for a decade or less, they’d tell you the same thing; the skills and expertise of developers in the Maldives are exceptional. They would also tell you that most of these developers and experts branch out to multiple subsequent fields, such as system administration, analytics, hardware, and so much more.

These same veterans would also tell you that many of these untapped talent in the Maldives are finding ready and willing investment and support elsewhere. Where’s the proof, you may ask? Only a cursory glance at some of the major South East Asian tech companies, or maybe projects in the UK, Australia and USA, would make one or two or more Maldivian names pop up. And this number has been rising for over a decade or more, and will keep rising if the country does not address the lacuna that’s forcing Maldivian talent to leave.

However, to be fair, it is important to note that the tech industry of the Maldives is still in its very early stages. Growth is happening at unprecedented rates in every tangent field; telecommunications, entrepreneurship, shifting economic landscapes, and now it is clear to see a lot more individuals and organisations rising up to the occasion. A sight Maldivians did not expect to see, given our glorified view of the expertise and prowess of foreign specialists, is now apparent; our very own, homegrown software development companies, start-ups, and digital investment and security experts.

Years ago, most of the tech companies in the Maldives were catering to the hospitality industry, to keep up with the changing times and to best ensure their services met the standards they strived for. Yet, the perspective has shifted. Now, singular companies offer a plethora of services, including IT, hardware, and networking services, in addition to software development and consultancy. The main driving force for these companies is a free-market element; the adoption of technology in the public and private sector. Yet, this still is not enough to tighten the bottleneck on the brain-drain issue.

As for the administrative sector, they are arguably the biggest employer of the nation. They do employ a very large portion of the tech talent as well, yet the issue that’s prevalent is low pay, compared to the private sector, let alone a liveable wage. This gives little incentive for these talented people to stay, and this is a factor that more forward-thinking entities, such as the large tech giants, realise and accommodate. Their employment packages are marketed for the underpaid, overly talented.

Beyond the public sector, the private sector should offer some saving grace, but the reality is not so. The Maldives has been, in the past six or so years, paying a lot of attention to the development of MSMEs, as a factor that would stimulate the economy further. However, the required protections to empower and nurture tech-related SMEs, were not in place.

A flimsy Copyright Act, lack of protection from data privacy and intellectual property, makes the Maldives a dangerous place to invest too much in, in terms of tech development. 

Furthermore, beyond the legal shortcomings, the administrations could be more lenient towards tech based startups, allowing lesser red tape to start and lesser restrictions in keeping it going on, which would allow more talent to be retained. This is obviously due to the flexible, and better, working conditions and perks as compared to the civil service sector. 

It would be remiss if this article did not pay due homage to the efforts the current administration and the one before it has done to accommodate and adopt ‘digital’ living. In terms of a strong foundation and space to dip into and understand information technology as a field, Maldives excels. However, this sort of nurturing and investment will be wasted if the follow-through is not as consistent. Without proper organisation, strategic planning and full consultancy with local industry experts, implementing ‘digitalisation’ is only going to fail, and leave the nation trailing. 

While there has been an increase in tech specialists over the past decade or two, this is not enough, experts warn. A nation of this size can so very easily switch over to a digitalised economy and administration, yet to cater for this the administration needs to pay special attention to developing the experts needed to ensure the success of this vision.

It is important to note this is not only for software developers, but also the physical labour and administrative skillsets required in managing digitised systems. Networkers, technicians, system administrators, UI/UX talents, even project managers, all this opens up not only employment opportunities, but a shift in the civil framework as well.