What Our July LinkedIn Polls Reveal About the AI Skills Gap in IT

August 10, 2026 / Gravity IT Resources /

What IT Professionals Told Us About AI Skills and Who Should Build Them

AI isn’t a future conversation anymore. It shows up in daily work, hiring decisions and training budgets right now.

Throughout July, we ran a series of LinkedIn polls asking our network where they stand on AI skills, who should be responsible for building them and whether certifications actually matter when it comes to hiring. The responses gave us a clear look at where confidence is high, where it’s missing and who people expect to close the gap.

 

Confidence in AI Skills Is Split Right Down the Middle

We started by asking how confident people feel in their AI-related skills today.

There was no middle ground in this group. Half of respondents feel ahead of the curve and half said AI simply isn’t part of their day to day work. No one landed in the “still learning” or “not confident” categories.

This split says less about AI itself and more about how differently it’s showing up across roles. For some IT professionals, AI tools are already woven into daily tasks. For others, their part of the business hasn’t been touched by it yet, at least not in a way they’ve noticed.

 

Employers Are Expected to Own AI Upskilling

Next we asked who should be responsible for making sure IT teams don’t fall behind on AI skills.

Every response pointed in the same direction. Respondents see AI upskilling as the employer’s job and not something individuals are expected to handle on their own time or dime.

That’s a strong signal for hiring managers and IT leaders. If a team is waiting on training, budget or a clear plan for building AI skills, the expectation is that it comes from the top.

 

Certifications Get a Mixed Reaction

Certifications come up constantly in AI conversations, so we asked if they actually help candidates get hired.

Eighty percent of respondents see some value in AI certifications, though only 40% consider them a real door opener. The remaining 20% still lean toward hands on experience over a certificate.

For hiring managers, this suggests certifications can help a resume stand out, but they likely won’t replace demonstrated experience when it comes down to a final decision.

 

When AI Skills Are Scarce, Most Teams Choose to Train

Finally, we asked what IT leaders do when AI skills are hard to find in the market.

The majority favor building skills internally rather than looking outside the organization. Training current staff was the clear preference, well ahead of hiring contractors or bringing in outside help.

 

 

Takeaway 

Put together, these four polls point to a few consistent themes. Confidence in AI skills varies a lot depending on the role, certifications carry some weight but aren’t a substitute for experience and there’s a strong, shared expectation that employers should lead on training.

Maybe the clearest signal is the preference for developing existing teams over hiring around them. When skills are scarce, most respondents said they would rather invest in the people already on staff.

These results come from a self-selected LinkedIn audience, so they reflect sentiment rather than a scientific study. Still, the direction is worth paying attention to. Organizations that build a real plan for AI upskilling, rather than assuming employees will figure it out on their own, are likely to be in a stronger position as these skills keep evolving.

 

About Gravity IT Resources

Gravity is a Human Capital Management company headquartered in Fort Lauderdale with offices across the country including Atlanta, Charlotte, Columbus, Cincinnati, Nashville, DC, Salt Lake City, San Diego and Tampa. Our company has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as an “Inc. 5000” award winner and one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the United States for the last 7 consecutive years (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025). Additionally, Gravity is proud to be Great Place to Work certified for the 5th year in a row (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) and was also recognized on the SIA’s Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms in the US list the last two years (2024, 2025).

Gravity helps prominent clients like Salesforce, Chewy, Carnival Cruise Lines, AutoNation, Mosaic and hundreds of other enterprise and SMB companies to identify, recruit and hire IT professionals for their most critical projects and jobs. Our recruitment spans across various roles, including artificial intelligence (AI) specialists, software engineers, cloud engineers, project managers, data engineers, business analysts, security engineers, CXO leaders and more.

Gravity provides a variety of delivery models and services designed to meet client needs efficiently and effectively.

To learn more about Gravity IT Resources practices, career opportunities and culture, visit gravityitresources.com

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