Based on a comparison of the guidelines in the Strategies for Technological Development of the Country from 2016 to 2024, a contradiction has been formed in the basic attitudes towards the personnel training system. The authors <i>aim</i> is to present a sociological analysis of the current situation and the existing opportunities for implementing the task of ensuring the technological sovereignty of the country with qualified personnel. The <i>theoretical and methodological basis</i> of the study is built on an appeal to classical works representing society: as a system of T. Parsons, E. Giddens, self-organizing system of N. Luhmann; works covering the issues of the influence of scientific and technological potential on the level of competitiveness; state programs and regulatory documents, as well as statistical and analytical materials. <i>Results</i>. Generalization of data on training programs in secondary vocational education, as well as implemented federal programs for its support allowed us to conclude that at the moment the situation is characterized by a gradual improvement, but the number of graduates is insufficient for the growing needs of production. The reasons are both poor training in natural cycle disciplines in schools and, accordingly, a shortage of teaching staff to solve this problem, and the consequences of the demographic pit of the 90s, which led to a reduction in potential students. The authors believe that the solution to the problem of providing qualified personnel is not so much in the constant increase in the number of graduates, but in the revision of both their training programs and the technologies of the production itself in order to replace the stages of operations that can be performed by unskilled specialists with technological developments based on artificial intelligence. The implementation of an integrated approach should be ensured by revising the training programs in universities and institutes, as well as attracting talented developers to the problem of improving production.