The growth of e-commerce continues to create the biggest job
opportunities, according to the latest SSP/Computer Weekly Survey
of Appointments Data and Trends. Nicholas Enticknap reports
The growth of e-commerce continues to create the biggest
job opportunities, according to the latest SSP/Computer Weekly
Survey of Appointments Data and Trends. Nicholas Enticknap
reportsE-skills continued to dominate IT recruitment during the final
quarter of 2000, as recorded in the latest issue of the
SSP/Computer Weekly Survey of Appointments Data and Trends. They
now occupy the top two positions in the skills league table, and
for the first time account for six of the top 20 skills (or seven
if Solaris, heavily favoured as a Web server operating system, is
included).
Generic Internet expertise features at the top of the table for
the first time and was the only skill in the top 25 to feature in
more than twice as many advertisements as a year ago. Among
individual industry sectors it was top in media and retail and in
the top four places everywhere except the financial and
manufacturing areas.
It features in the computer supplier league table top 10 for the
first time, which makes you wonder what these folks have been up to
for the past few years.
Demand for Java continues to rise, but by only 20% this time,
which means it has fallen to second place after just one quarter at
the top. It features in every industry sector except manufacturing,
which is proving the slowest to move into the e-world. There were
just nine Java jobs on offer from companies in this sector over the
last three months.
Java demand is being driven by the software houses, which
advertised more than 1,800 jobs over the three months. It was the
most sought-after skill in the financial sector as well.
Overall, despite a conspicuous lack of enthusiasm from
Microsoft, Java remained the most popular programming language
during the period, although it only appeared in 44 more ads than
C++. This language was the most popular with advertisers last year
as a whole. It was also top in the computer suppliers league table
over the three months.
All but one of the skills in the top 25 which showed growth in
demand were Web or Internet-based. They are HTML (up one place from
a year ago to ninth); TCP/IP (up two to 11th place, and top of the
communications company league table for the first time); Solaris
(up 14 to 18th); plus XML, Corba and Wap, which did not enter the
table until the start of last year.
The one exception is Ada, which appeared in 350 ads this time,
up from 290 at the end of 1999. This lifted it 14 places up the
table to 17th. Demand for Ada was strongest in the engineering
sector, where it was in third place over the quarter. (This sector
also accounted for more than half of all Pascal jobs.)
Curiously, there was not a single advertisement requiring Ada
from the public sector. Much of the rest of the requirement for Ada
came from the IT hardware sector. Comms companies wanted 25% more
Ada specialists than a year ago, while computer suppliers doubled
their demand.
Ada was very much the exception among the established software
skills.
Many of those that dominated IT site requirements during the
1990s are now falling slowly but surely from favour, including some
surprises.
Demand for Oracle, for example, fell by nearly half, and it is
now outside the top five. This is partly a reflection of the
recruiting interests of the software industry, the largest single
sector. Here the Oracle requirement fell 44%. But it is also losing
ground in user sectors - financial institutions cut their demand
for Oracle by 55%.
Windows NT is also now in the lower reaches of the top 10 after
a 42% fall in demand. The software house sector was clearly
influential here, cutting its requirement by 61%. Software houses
have been stepping up their requirement for Internet skills over
the second half of 2000 - they advertised 70% of XML posts over the
past three months.
Windows NT is now out of the top three in every industry table
except two - manufacturing and the public sector - where it remains
in first place (in the latter case for the 10th consecutive
quarter). It is, however, one of only three skills to feature in
every table, along with Internet and Unix.
Windows 2000 is tabulated separately by SSP. It has not yet
aroused much enthusiasm, featuring in just under 200 jobs over the
quarter. Adding those jobs to the NT total would take it above
Oracle into sixth.
Other client/server software skills which featured heavily in
the 1990s but which fell by more than half in the last quarter
include Access, Office, Progress and Sybase.
All of which is bad news for Microsoft. Big Bad Bill still has
friends in high places, though: the public sector is the most
enthusiastic about Microsoft products. Windows NT is easily top of
that league table, featuring in more than twice as many ads as any
other skill. Office is third, while client Windows, Windows 2000
and Exchange all feature in the top 25.
Overall, Exchange fell by nearly a half, while Lotus Notes
dropped 64%. Notes is now only just within the top 30, while
Exchange is down to 33rd.
Enterprise resource planning systems have also had their day, as
attention switches to customer relationship management, supply
chain management and business-to-business systems. Demand for SAP
skills fell by two-thirds, and this skill is now out of the top 25.
Demand is only holding up well in the small manufacturing sector,
where it was in third place, though this meant just 24 jobs on
offer.
The legacy skills that were so much in demand for year 2000
compliance projects a couple of years ago now scarcely feature at
all. There were just 185 Cobol jobs on offer (a quarter of them in
the retail sector, where the language still features in the top
10), and 178 RPG400 jobs.
Posts involving PL/I fell to just 26, half of them advertised by
the retail sector.
Demand here is probably artificially low, as IT departments
still need legacy skills to integrate their established
mission-critical systems with the new wave of e-commerce
applications and front-ends. Most such departments, however, have a
sufficiency of such skills now that Y2K projects are complete.
IBM mainframe skills are similarly depressed. There were 55 MVS
jobs (more than half from the financial sector), 46 TSO positions,
38 IMS jobs and just 18 positions requiring expertise in JCL.
On
course to learn Java
And our survey said
These articles are based on information contained in the
SSP/Computer Weekly Quarterly Survey of Appointments Data and
Trends.
The survey analyses advertisements for computer professionals in
the trade press and the quality national dailies and Sundays. It is
primarily intended for recruitment agencies and IT managers with a
substantial recruitment requirement.
The posts advertised are broken down in the survey into 63 job
categories. Within each job category, the survey provides details
of the number of posts advertised and the mean and median national
salaries offered for the last quarter and for each of the previous
four.
The survey provides further analyses within each job category by
hardware type, industry type and region. It also provides a
breakdown for the major job categories of the technical skills most
in demand.
In each analysis, it again details the average salary on offer
for each of the past five quarters.
The price of a single issue of the survey is £225, and for an
annual subscription is £325. This covers four issues, and includes
a free copy of a Windows-based software product which allows
selection of combinations of region, industry and software skills
for a specified job type.
For further information contact Bernardine Caine on 01488-72705,
or e-mail Bernardine.Caine@rbi.co.uk.
Skills most in demand over the past quarter
| Q4 2000 | Q4 1999 | Jobs on offer | Change | | |
| Position | Position | Skill | Q4 2000 | Q4 1999 | Q4 2000 |
| 1 | 9 | Internet | 3,395 | 1,600 | +112% |
| 2 | 8 | Java | 3,290 | 2,699 | +22% |
| 3 | 1 | C++ | 3,246 | 5,236 | -38% |
| 4 | 5 | SQL | 2,402 | 3,425 | -30% |
| 5 | 4 | Unix | 2,385 | 3,524 | -32% |
| 6 | 2 | Oracle | 2,173 | 4,061 | -47% |
| 7 | 3 | Windows NT | 2,105 | 3,653 | -42% |
| 8 | 6 | Visual Basic | 2,015 | 3,294 | -39% |
| 9 | 10 | HTML | 1,772 | 1,182 | +50% |
| 10 | 7 | C | 1,692 | 2,813 | -40% |
| 11 | 13 | TCP/IP | 1,071 | 874 | +23% |
| 12 | - | XML | 984 | 0 | N/A |
| 13 | 15 | Lan | 654 | 701 | -7% |
| 14 | 12 | Object-oriented | 647 | 915 | -29% |
| 15 | 16 | Wan | 623 | 681 | -9% |
| 16 | 11 | Windows | 401 | 1,136 | -65% |
| 17 | 31 | Ada | 350 | 290 | +21% |
| 18 | 32 | Solaris | 348 | 297 | +21% |
| 19 | - | Corba | 343 | 0 | N/A |
| 20 | - | Wap | 289 | 0 | N/A |
| 21 | 28 | Delphi | 285 | 386 | -26% |
| 22 | 19 | Sybase | 267 | 606 | -56% |
| 23 | 22 | Access | 249 | 558 | -55% |
| 24 | 26 | Office | 219 | 473 | -54% |
| 25 | 27 | Progress | 214 | 468 | -54% |
| | | All jobs | 20,332 | 28,700 | -29% |
Positions of top 10 skills in industry sector league
tables
| All | CS | SW | CC | FB | DR | MP | En | Mn | UE | PS |
| All | CS | SW | CC | FB | DR | MP | En | Mn | UE | PS |
| 1. Internet | 4 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 Java | 5 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 6 | - | 1 | 9 |
| 3 C++ | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 6 | - | - |
| 4 SQL | 7 | 4 | - | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 5 Unix | 3 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 Oracle | 8 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 8 | - | 4 | 7 | 6 |
| 7 Windows NT | 6 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| 8 Visual Basic | - | 5 | - | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 3 | - |
| 9 HTML | - | 7 | - | 9 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 |
| 10 C | 2 | 10 | 4 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 10 | - |
Help solve the skills crisis
This month, Computer Weekly readers have a unique opportunity to
help shape the future of UK e-commerce.
The Department for Education and Employment has asked the
E-Skills National Training Organisation to co-ordinate a three-year
strategic plan to galvanise employers, suppliers and the Government
into solving the UK's shortage of e-skills. It is now seeking
feedback from the IT community.
Below is a summary of the eight key proposals. E-mail
mark.lewis@rbi.co.uk telling
us which three you favour most, in descending order. Suggestions by
26 February 2001.
E-Skills NTO's draft proposals
1 Industry-wide programmes to encourage new IT recruits
2 Improved industry/education links
3 Promote benefits of training to employers and publicise
success stories to spark more training investment
4 Core set of IT qualifications and training programmes tailored
for employers, combining supplier exams and NVQs and encourage
employers to introduce modern apprenticeships and graduate
apprenticeships
5 Employer "kitemark" for providers and courses, to encourage
employers to adopt common job titles and definitions
6 Improve e-business take-up by small companies by establishing
a small-business Web portal
7 Predict future skills needs by analysing regional skills gaps,
and regular IT Skills Foresight reports
8 Major package of initiatives to improve IT literacy.