The IT jobs market is enjoying a period of unparalleled
stability with the number of jobs advertised on the web virtually
the same in each of the past four quarters in both the permanent
and contract markets. This is the finding from the October 2005
issue of the SSL/Computer Weekly Survey of Appointments Data and
Trends.
And it is a view supported by those in the field. Paul Smith,
marketing director at recruitment firm Harvey Nash, said, "We see a
constant demand for IT skills, and we are confident about the
future."
Compared to the same time last year, the number of jobs
advertised is up by almost 25% in both permanent and contract
markets.
The professionals with the most reason for celebrating are
networking specialists. The number of advertised networking
vacancies in the permanent market rose by more than 50% in the
third quarter, compared to a year ago. They now account for 6% of
all IT jobs, compared to 4% in 2004. There was particularly strong
demand for network support engineers, with nearly double the number
of jobs on offer compared to a year ago. Advertised vacancies for
networking staff also rose by 50% in the contract market.
This upturn, which has been sustained throughout 2005, follows a
prolonged period where demand for communications specialists was
slack. Smith said, "This is because corporates have started to
invest heavily in renewal of infrastructure. In the downturn of
2001 and 2002, the first thing they did was to try to do more with
less, by holding off unnecessary purchases. That has changed in the
past year."
One group of professionals with mixed results in the latest
survey are software engineers. Demand in the permanent market rose
by substantially less than the average, but in the contract market
it rose by 66%.
With systems staff, exactly the opposite is the case. The number
of permanent positions on offer rose by more than twice the market
average, but in the contract market growth was the same as the
average.
Increasing confidence in the stability of the market has led
software houses to increase their investment in advertising, and as
a result demand for both full-time and part-time consultants is up.
The number of permanent positions on offer doubled relative to a
year ago, and contract positions trebled.
The salaries on offer reflect this surge in demand, with the
average for a full-time consultant now standing at more than
£70,000. Freelance consultants can expect to earn more than £50 per
hour.
Geographically, there is a surprising east/west divide in this
quarter's figures. Both the West Midlands and the North West saw
the number of permanent jobs on offer increase by more than 50%. In
the North East, however, jobs rose by less than the national
average, and in the East Midlands they scarcely rose at all.
Contract jobs are also up by the largest amount in the Midlands
and the North West, though the disparity with the east of the
country is not so marked.
Jobs in Scotland and Northern Ireland also rose by more than
50%; professionals in these parts of the UK have enjoyed a very
good 2005. The London area is not quite so buoyant, but still had
better than average growth. Activity in central London was slightly
greater than in the suburbs this time, after being significantly
less in the first half of the year.
Permanent jobs increased the most in the media sector, with more
than half as many again on offer as this time last year. Despite
increasing advertising by the same amount in the contract market,
the media sector was eclipsed in this regard by both manufacturing
and the public sector.
Smith said, "That reflects increased demand for IT modernisation
in government. The fact that the demand is for contractors is more
to do with a skills shortage than with any lack of demand for
permanent staff. Government is still a low payer compared to the
private sector. Getting the quality is difficult, so they resort to
contractors."
Salaries have continued their slow and steady rise. The average
increase in salary offered across all positions was 2.5%, similar
to what it has been all year. This was exactly the same as the
September figure for both the old-fashioned RPI headline inflation
rate and the government's new preferred CPI measure. Rates for
contractors have increased by rather more, at an average of
3.8%.
At the top of the tree, the average salary for IT directors has
risen to a new high for the third quarter in succession. The third
quarter figure was £96,774, up 11% on a year ago. The magic
£100,000 threshold is coming ever closer.
New levels are being reached in other major job positions too.
Project managers are now being offered an average of £50,000, and
developers an average of £40,000. The average programmer's salary
has leapt upwards by 10% this time, and is now within shouting
distance of £30,000.
The skills most in demand show a swing in favour of .net and
away from Java. Microsoft's .net featured in more than half as many
advertisements again as this time last year, and is now up to
ninth, while ASP also featured in more than half as many jobs
again, and is up to 13th. Meanwhile, the biggest growth in demand
among the top 25 skills was shown by C#, with the jobs on offer
being nearly double those of a year ago. As a result, C# has
entered the top 10 for the first time.
In contrast, demand for Java grew by just 4% over the year, and
demand for J2EE grew by 9%. However, Smith said these numbers do
not reflect his experience, and bids for future contracts are split
fairly evenly between .net and Java. "In the public sector they are
moving towards .net, especially in education," he said. "In our
developments the large volume environments are almost entirely
Java, while a lot of smaller ones are in .net".
As far as operating systems go, the impetus is with Linux, which
also featured in more than half as many ads again that this time
last year, and is now up to 15th. In contrast, demand for Unix
skills rose just 13%, and for Solaris experience just 14%. The
Windows operating systems also lost ground, with NT and Windows
2000 down to 19th and 20th respectively. Windows XP is down in
30th.
One surprise in the league table is the sudden fall from grace
of TCP/IP, which has plummeted nine places to 23rd, after featuring
in many less ads this quarter than a year ago. This is its lowest
position since it first entered the league table in 1992.
Visual Basic is another skill to plumb new depths: it is out of
the top 10 for the first time since 1994, after showing virtually
no growth over the past year. Another favourite to show minimal
growth is C++, which is now down to seventh. Lower down, Informix
has dropped out of the top 100 for the first time.
Demand by sector
Change in demand Q3 05 against Q3 04
Electronics/comms companies +17%
Software houses +34%
Banking/finance +39%
Distribution/retail +18%
Media/publishing +58%
Manufacturing +31%
Public sector +19%
All jobs +19%
Demand by job title
Change in demand Q3 05 against Q3 04
Management +18%
Systems +40%
Development +19%
Programmers +11%
PC support +26%
Technical support +46%
Software engineering +8%
Database +35%
Networking +53%
Operations +5%
Web specialists +57%
Demand by region
Change in demand Q3 05 against Q3 04
Inner London +33%
Outer London +30%
Southern England +28%
West & Wales +37%
East Midlands +2%
West Midlands+58%
North West +56%
North East +20%
Scotland & Northern Ireland +53%
Skills most in demand on the web
Q3 05 position (Q3 04 in brackets) , then % change
1 (1) SQL +33
2 (2) C +8%
3 (4) Office +24%
4 (5) Unix +13%
5 (3) Java +4%
6 (7) Oracle +23%
7 (6) C++ +5%
8 (9) SQL Server +43%
9 (10) .net +58%
10 (16) C# +93%
11 (8) Visual Basic +0%
12 (12) XML +42%
13 (15) ASP +53%
14 (11) J2EE +9%
15 (20) Linux +59%
16 (18) HTML +31%
17 (21) Exchange +53%
18 (19) SAP +26%
19 (13) Windows NT -11%
20 (17) Windows 2000 +9%
21 (26) UML +37%
22 (32) Cisco +71%
23 (14) TCP/IP -22%
24 (25) Access +29%
25 (23) Object oriented +21%
How the survey is conducted
This article is based on information contained in The
SSL/Computer Weekly Quarterly Survey of Appointments Data and
Trends.
The survey analyses advertisements for IT professionals on the
web and in the trade press and the quality national dailies and
Sundays. It is primarily intended for recruitment agencies and CIOs
with a substantial recruitment requirement.
The posts advertised are broken down in the survey into 55 job
categories. Within each job category, the survey provides details
of the number of posts advertised and the average 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
platform type, industry sector and regional location. 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 £250, and for an
annual subscription is £350. This covers four issues, and includes
a free copy of a Windows-based software product on CD, which allows
selection of combinations of region, industry and software skills
for a specified job type. Readers can order it at
www.salaryservices.co.uk.