The theme of the endless talent search
Portugal lives a contradiction in the technology sector. On one side, the country positions itself as a European tech hub, with Lisbon and Porto as reference cities, Web Summit as a visitor for years, and recent investments like Microsoft's that position Portugal as a European pole for artificial intelligence. Inetum no longer considers Portugal a nearshore destination, but an innovation hub.
On the other side, the numbers reveal a different reality: 84% of employers report difficulties in finding qualified talent, according to the "Global Talent Shortage Survey 2025" by ManpowerGroup. In the technology sector, 76% of companies still cannot find the IT profiles they need.
The author argues that the problem is not just the lack of talent, but also in how companies continue to search for it. Many still recruit for the past, looking for perfect profiles with three to five years of experience, immediate availability and salary expectations that no longer match the market. The solution lies in upskilling and reskilling, investing in internal training and recognizing that talent may already exist within the companies themselves.
Initiatives such as TechOf, Rumos, Olisipo, UPskill and PRO_MOV show that Portugal already has the capacity to meet this need. The author concludes that the shortage of tech talent is structural and that the response cannot wait for a perfect reform, it must be immediate, practical and collective, with each company investing in its people and each school training tech professionals.
