The growth of outsourcing over the last decade has led to
greater demand for mid-level IT staff than ever. Companies are
racing to employ staff capable of overseeing and managing teams,
while lower-level development jobs are increasingly outsourced to
UK and international companies.
One result, as
recent research has shown, is
a surge in mid-level pay as demand grows and supply dries up.
As India, China and others continue to provide many of the
programmers and developers the UK needs, companies need more
experienced staff to oversee project work and manage disparate
teams.
Data provider Salary Services Limited says project managers and
project leaders have seen the most dramatic
the most dramatic pay increases over the last five years. In
2003, project leaders were paid an average of £38,748, compared to
£47,605 this year, an increase of 18%. Project managers were paid
£45,076 in 2004, which has increased by 12% to £51,368 this
year.
Problems have arisen for IT directors seeking to employ these
mid-level managers for two reasons. With a high proportion of
entry-level jobs outsourced to other companies or countries, there
are fewer developers coming up through the ranks and less
competition for the more experienced roles. This has pushed up pay
as companies try to attract the best staff.
George Molyneaux, research director at Salary Services Limited
and jobadswatch.co.uk, says
there is a shortage of UK-produced developers. "There is especially
a lack of skills like C# and .Net, because there's been
a lot of outsourcing. Outsourcing the jobs is a fundamental
problem because there's then a lack of incentive to get into
IT."
But while development jobs have been sent offshore, George
Molyneaux says it has been "critical" to keep project managers in
the IT department.
IT directors' have another problem with
declining numbers of computing graduates. According to
figures from university admissions service UCAS, the
number of applicants to IT-related degrees has dropped 48% in
six years, from
29,477 in 2001 to 15,258 in 2007.
Recruitment experts say it is crucial the industry works harder
at attracting students if it doesn't want the
current shortages to get any worse.
Ann Swain, chief executive of the Association of Technology
Staffing Companies, says offshoring has removed the "bottom rung"
of the IT career ladder.
Ann Swain says: "Outsourcing entry-level IT jobs has meant fewer
graduate-level jobs are available in the UK.
"The shortage now is of candidates with a few years experience
looking for second and third jobs. But how do you get that
experience if entry-level jobs are being sent offshore?"
The answer is better PR and marketing, according to Michael
Bennett, director of recruitment company Rethink Recruitment. The
industry needs to tell young people there are plenty of jobs
available, and change their perception of IT as a "boring" career
choice.
"The industry has historically been pretty poor at selling IT as
a career. Good quality graduates are getting snapped up, so we need
to tell them there is a demand for IT people and that working in IT
doesn't necessarily mean programming,"