ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF RESKILLING BARRIERS IN IT: AN INDEX-BASED APPROACH USING NLP

Abstract

The article examines the issue of adult unpreparedness for reskilling in the IT sector as a managerial challenge in the context of the digital transformation of the labor market. Based on a survey of 127 individuals planning a change in their professional trajectory, the authors propose an Unpreparedness Index - an aggregated indicator capturing resource-related and organizational barriers (lack of available time, absence of a personal computer, unstable internet access, no prior experience with online education). The index makes it possible to identify categories of respondents with a heightened risk of disengagement from the learning process and to develop a typology of participants based on their initial capacity for professional retraining. In addition, open-ended responses were processed using natural language processing (NLP) methods, which enabled a deeper analysis of respondents’ motivations, expectations, and concerns. The study revealed a strong relationship between the level of unpreparedness and the self-assessment of technical skills, as well as significant variation depending on the intended IT specialization. The lowest barriers were recorded among respondents aiming for frontend or backend development, while future analysts and project managers reported higher levels of unpreparedness. The results are of practical importance for educational institutions, HR departments, and designers of reskilling programs. The proposed index can serve as a diagnostic tool for audience segmentation, the identification of priority support groups, and the design of adaptive educational trajectories. The article underscores the value of integrating both quantitative and qualitative approaches in the study of career transformation and provides an empirical foundation for informed managerial intervention. Thus, the proposed approach enables not only the quantitative assessment of readiness barriers but also their interpretation within educational and managerial contexts as indicators of potential risk and as guides for developing personalized support strategies. The article expands the toolkit of educational management by shifting from intuitive to structured methods of addressing obstacles to reskilling - an especially relevant need amid rapid change and a persistent shortage of IT professionals.