There is also an age gap: While 29 percent of 25 to 34 year olds continue their education, the figure is only 19 percent of 55 to 64 year olds. This gap is already problematic for employees. For solo self-employed people it is a real threat to the business model.
I know the pattern well from my conversations with freelance IT professionals. Further training is postponed because an ongoing project takes priority. Then comes the next thing. And the one after that. Until at some point the request comes for which your own profile no longer quite fits. The sense of when one’s own expertise begins to age is quickly lost in everyday operational life.
There are also tangible hurdles: further training costs time, which directly blocks sales. It costs money that has to be earned beforehand. And their benefits are difficult to quantify in advance. Three understandable reasons to put it off and at the same time three bad reasons not to tackle it.
A detail from the Bitkom study is interesting in this context: 27 percent of the new IT positions filled last year went to career changers. These are people with training outside of IT, with non-technical degrees or self-taught knowledge.
The Stepstone job platform confirms this trend across industries: for 2026, 64 percent of companies are prioritizing targeted hiring of career changers. 77 percent want to adjust their selection criteria and give greater weight to skills than formal qualifications. The labor market is measurably moving towards “skills-based hiring”.
What does this mean for IT freelancers? Essentially the same as for employed career changers – only they have to organize the qualification process completely themselves. The evidence that this investment is worthwhile is solid. The Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) has proven in several studies that funded further training measurably improves employment opportunities and income.
