Skill mismatch evidence for Cybersecurity skills in Morocco

Analyzing self-reported skill mismatch is a highly studied topic in prior research. This paper investigates evidence of skill mismatch between professionals, faculty members, and students in the cybersecurity field in Morocco. A survey was conducted to collect data from these three categories about their perception of the most required skills in the cybersecurity job market. The survey used the Chi-Test to find evidence of skill mismatch between the three categories. The null hypothesis was that the proportions of skills required by professionals, faculty members, and students are equal. If the null hypothesis was not verified, the Marascuilo procedure was used to make comparisons between all pairs of groups. The results show that the three categories agree on the importance of higher-level skills such as programming languages, network and security, databases, operating systems, and soft skills. However, when analyzing the mismatch between more specific skills, evidence of mismatch was found between the three categories, especially in areas such as databases and audit and risk analysis. The study also found agreement between groups for some skills, such as C++, which is not highly used in the cybersecurity job market. The results of this paper will help identify areas of mismatch and guide universities and decision-makers on the most required skills in the cybersecurity job market. The study used a survey to collect data from professionals, faculty members, and students about their perception of the most required skills in the cybersecurity job market. The survey was conducted using a Google Form and was sent to different social networks and universities in Morocco. The survey also asked respondents to classify skills from not needed in the job market to highly needed.