Authors - Asini Silva, Thushani Weerasinghe Abstract - The rapidly evolving IT job market presents a significant challenge with the growing gap between academic curricula and industry needs. Our study addressed this misalignment with a data-driven approach. The study employed a constructive research approach to develop a user-friendly platform that extracts real-time data from LinkedIn job postings and creates a dataset of IT jobs and their top-demanding skills. The authors utilized tools such as Selenium and BeautifulSoup to extract job titles and descriptions, identifying the most sought-after skills within the IT industry. Testing and evaluation were conducted weekly for several months, resulting in a dataset consisting of more than 50 IT job positions, each listing 20 in-demand skills. This comprehensive dataset not only captures but also retains records over time, allowing for an in-depth examination of skills associated with historical postings. The analysis uncovers notable discrepancies between the skills highlighted in academic programs and those required by employers, revealing a critical barrier to graduate employability. Hence, this research provides valuable insights for educational institutions, policymakers, and job seekers, equipping them to align programs with industry expectations while empowering students to make informed decisions regarding skill development. Furthermore, the methodology utilized in this study is scalable. It can be applied to any region in the world, offering a robust framework for aligning education with the evolving demands of the job market.
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