The pace of job growth in IT may be slowing down, but it’s still moving at a strong clip.
A healthy 24 percent of the respondents to Computerworld’s 2015 Forecast survey said that their companies plan to add more IT employees in the year ahead. While down from 32 percent and 33 percent in the previous two years, the fact that a number of employers still anticipate growth indicates that the prospects for expansion in the IT ranks are good.
Moreover, the kinds of technical skills in high demand are those needed for enterprises in expansion mode, suggesting that organizations are continuing to invest in their IT infrastructures.
“There are large initiatives [underway], and you have to have the people to get those done,” says Jason Hayman, market research manager at TEKsystems, an IT staffing and consulting firm.
Here’s a look at the 10 IT skills that the 194 IT executives who responded to our survey said will be most in demand heading into 2015.
A healthy 24 percent of the respondents to Computerworld’s 2015 Forecast survey said that their companies plan to add more IT employees in the year ahead. While down from 32 percent and 33 percent in the previous two years, the fact that a number of employers still anticipate growth indicates that the prospects for expansion in the IT ranks are good.
Moreover, the kinds of technical skills in high demand are those needed for enterprises in expansion mode, suggesting that organizations are continuing to invest in their IT infrastructures.
“There are large initiatives [underway], and you have to have the people to get those done,” says Jason Hayman, market research manager at TEKsystems, an IT staffing and consulting firm.
Here’s a look at the 10 IT skills that the 194 IT executives who responded to our survey said will be most in demand heading into 2015.
1. Programming/application development
• 48 percent of respondents said they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year’s ranking: No. 1
As was the case last year and the year before that, IT departments are more likely to have job openings for programmers and developers than for any other position.
Programming certainly tops the list of skills sought by Blake K. Holman, senior vice president and CIO at Ryan LLC, a Dallas-based tax services firm. Like many others, he’s looking for developers who can move his organization forward. But, given the demand, he’s struggling to find the talent he requires. “It’s been very difficult to find folks with good development skills,” he says, explaining that he can find workers with some development aptitude, but landing programmers and developers with enough experience to handle the scale and complexity his company demands is challenging.
• Last year’s ranking: No. 5
Demand for project managers jumped four spots up the list this year, and that doesn’t surprise Leon Kappelman, lead researcher for the Society for Information Management’s (SIM) IT Trends Study.
There is some catching up going on now, because there was so little investment in recent years, he says, noting that companies need project managers who can oversee large projects that span the enterprise. Darren Ghanayem, vice president and CIO in the commercial and specialty business division of Indianapolis-based health benefits provider WellPoint, says the list of complex initiatives on deck has created more demand for solid project management expertise. That has him turning what were outsourced jobs into staff positions, and he, too, says finding the right talent is challenging.
Good project managers need a mix of business and technology acumen along with the ability to bridge those two areas, he says. They also need experience in leading teams using specific methodologies, such as agile and waterfall. And Ghanayem specifically needs people who know how to move a traditional waterfall shop to an agile one. Given such intense requirements, he says it’s not surprising that demand for project managers is on the rise.
• Last year’s ranking: No. 2
IT leaders say they still have a growing need for help desk and technical support staffers because ongoing projects expand the list of devices and applications that their departments must support. “Demand for this position is a function of growth,” says Andrew C. Jackson, president and co-founder of BravoTech, a technology staffing firm in Dallas, and a member of the SIM Management Council. Jackson notes that the growing number of companies adopting bring-your-own-device programs has also fueled the need for more support professionals, because both the volume and variety of hardware and software within organizations is proliferating.
• Last year’s ranking: No. 7
Executives and board members are willing to spend more money on security because security breaches are making headlines these days. SIM’s research shows that IT departments are beefing up their security ranks; security ranked seventh on the organization’s list of most significant IT investments for 2014.
Cynthia Nustad, enterprise vice president and CIO at HMS, an Irving, Texas-based provider of cost containment services to healthcare payers, says organizations like hers face an ever-increasing number of threats. So she’s expanding her security team, which has already nearly tripled in size during the past five years. She says she’s seeking more specialized security talent; the positions she’s filling include one focused on incident management and another focused on threats and vulnerabilities.
“The demand to secure data is paramount, and the people who understand security -- the architects, engineers or subject-matter experts -- are very hard to find,” Nustad says.
Last year’s ranking: Not ranked
Matt Leighton, director of recruitment at Mondo, a tech staffing agency, says that Web development expertise is one of the hardest skill sets to find. “The influx of demand has not been met with the talent readily available -- there is a gap in terms of what the companies want to do and the talent that is out there to execute these initiatives,” he says.
• Last year’s ranking: No. 6
Database administration is a tried-and-true IT role -- one that’s always needed in any organization. But the buzz around big data is what’s driving much of today’s demand for people with this skill. “You’ve got the ability to crunch massive amounts of data, but you still need to understand how your database has been put together,” says Terry Erdle, executive vice president for certifications and learning at CompTIA, a wireless industry trade group.
In fact, IT staffing firm Robert Half Technology’s latest IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report, released this past summer, found that 52 percent of U.S. technology executives listed database management as the skill set in greatest demand within their IT departments.
• Last year’s ranking: No. 1
As was the case last year and the year before that, IT departments are more likely to have job openings for programmers and developers than for any other position.
Programming certainly tops the list of skills sought by Blake K. Holman, senior vice president and CIO at Ryan LLC, a Dallas-based tax services firm. Like many others, he’s looking for developers who can move his organization forward. But, given the demand, he’s struggling to find the talent he requires. “It’s been very difficult to find folks with good development skills,” he says, explaining that he can find workers with some development aptitude, but landing programmers and developers with enough experience to handle the scale and complexity his company demands is challenging.
2. Project management
• 35 percent of respondents said they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.• Last year’s ranking: No. 5
Demand for project managers jumped four spots up the list this year, and that doesn’t surprise Leon Kappelman, lead researcher for the Society for Information Management’s (SIM) IT Trends Study.
There is some catching up going on now, because there was so little investment in recent years, he says, noting that companies need project managers who can oversee large projects that span the enterprise. Darren Ghanayem, vice president and CIO in the commercial and specialty business division of Indianapolis-based health benefits provider WellPoint, says the list of complex initiatives on deck has created more demand for solid project management expertise. That has him turning what were outsourced jobs into staff positions, and he, too, says finding the right talent is challenging.
Good project managers need a mix of business and technology acumen along with the ability to bridge those two areas, he says. They also need experience in leading teams using specific methodologies, such as agile and waterfall. And Ghanayem specifically needs people who know how to move a traditional waterfall shop to an agile one. Given such intense requirements, he says it’s not surprising that demand for project managers is on the rise.
3. Help desk/technical support
• 30 percent of respondents said they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.• Last year’s ranking: No. 2
IT leaders say they still have a growing need for help desk and technical support staffers because ongoing projects expand the list of devices and applications that their departments must support. “Demand for this position is a function of growth,” says Andrew C. Jackson, president and co-founder of BravoTech, a technology staffing firm in Dallas, and a member of the SIM Management Council. Jackson notes that the growing number of companies adopting bring-your-own-device programs has also fueled the need for more support professionals, because both the volume and variety of hardware and software within organizations is proliferating.
4. Security/compliance governance
• 28 percent of respondents said they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.• Last year’s ranking: No. 7
Executives and board members are willing to spend more money on security because security breaches are making headlines these days. SIM’s research shows that IT departments are beefing up their security ranks; security ranked seventh on the organization’s list of most significant IT investments for 2014.
Cynthia Nustad, enterprise vice president and CIO at HMS, an Irving, Texas-based provider of cost containment services to healthcare payers, says organizations like hers face an ever-increasing number of threats. So she’s expanding her security team, which has already nearly tripled in size during the past five years. She says she’s seeking more specialized security talent; the positions she’s filling include one focused on incident management and another focused on threats and vulnerabilities.
“The demand to secure data is paramount, and the people who understand security -- the architects, engineers or subject-matter experts -- are very hard to find,” Nustad says.
5. Web development
• 28 percent of respondents said they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.Last year’s ranking: Not ranked
Matt Leighton, director of recruitment at Mondo, a tech staffing agency, says that Web development expertise is one of the hardest skill sets to find. “The influx of demand has not been met with the talent readily available -- there is a gap in terms of what the companies want to do and the talent that is out there to execute these initiatives,” he says.
6. Database administration
• 26 percent of respondents said they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.• Last year’s ranking: No. 6
Database administration is a tried-and-true IT role -- one that’s always needed in any organization. But the buzz around big data is what’s driving much of today’s demand for people with this skill. “You’ve got the ability to crunch massive amounts of data, but you still need to understand how your database has been put together,” says Terry Erdle, executive vice president for certifications and learning at CompTIA, a wireless industry trade group.
In fact, IT staffing firm Robert Half Technology’s latest IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report, released this past summer, found that 52 percent of U.S. technology executives listed database management as the skill set in greatest demand within their IT departments.
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