Developers In Demand As IT Jobs And Salaries Rise

Good news for developers and other IT professionals as a report from a recruitment firm found that their skills are still very much in demand.

According to the latest research from the IT recruitment websites CWJobs.co.uk and JobAdsWatch.co.uk, the IT recruitment market in the UK continues to stabilise, with demand for IT professionals that has actually increased for six consecutive quarters despite the economic turmoil.

With concerns about a double dip receding, 2010 actually saw a steady growth in demand for IT personnel, with an 8 percent increase in the second quarter. This was followed by another 8 percent rise in the third quarter and then a five percent rise in Q4.

But the impact of the recession is clear, with the total number of IT jobs still down by almost half the pre-recession levels seen in 2007 and 2008.

Skills In Demand

The two skills areas that are most likely to see shortages are VMware expertise, as well as experience with project development process Agile. Demand is also pressing for people with skills with the development tool Scrum used with Agile, as well as Google Android.

“Last year the IT recruitment market really showed its resilience in the face of numerous challenges while the economy was still in recovery,” explained Richard Nott, website director at CWJobs. “The industry is evolving, particularly where emerging skills such as Agile Scrum are increasing in demand. As IT professionals continue to adapt their skills and experience to this ever-changing environment, they will remain in a strong position as 2011 brings them a new set of challenges.”

According to their data, the top five skills most in demand for permanent IT jobs are SQL, C, C#, .NET and SQL Server.

And it seems that the demand for IT skills is especially sought after in the financial industry, although job openings were down by 6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 for the first time since 2009.

Salary Increases

However the finance industry continues to dominate the demand for permanent IT skills, followed by the media sector, then the retail sector, with manufacturing and public sector bringing up the rear.

And it seems that pay rates overall in the IT industry in 2010 increased by 5 percent compared to those seen in 2009.

And it seems that most money is being thrown at developers, who saw the greatest increase in pay offers, which were up by 5 percent last year. This compared to a 3 percent pay rise for project managers, 1 percent for network support engineers, and 0.6 percent for development managers.

These findings come after a report from e-Skills, the sector skills council for business and IT, which said that the UK IT industry is looking for 110,000 recruits to fill the expected number of vacancies this year.

And interestingly, it seems that according to e-Skills, IT employers want mature and experienced staff with qualifications rather than eager youths.

The IT industry has been remarkably upbeat during the downturn. This was shown by a survey last July which found that most technology workers believe they could get a new job, despite the fact that many believed there are currently fewer IT jobs available.