Pavarno figured part of the skills shortage the tech industry had struggled to deal with for years, was a visibility problem. Manawatech launched its first step to tackle the problem, with a skills and jobs database Pavarno developed over the past nine months. The database is free for workers, and available to companies for a small membership fee. Over 400 software developers and sector professionals have registered for the database so far. Pavarno said that showed there were enough workers. Graduates head to Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch with dreams of working for big tech companies like Google, Microsoft or Datacom. Many more experienced workers either did the same, or settled into jobs outside the sector after a fruitless search.