Help desk staffers are coveted, but developers are the hottest commodity of all.
When it comes to overall job prospects for IT professionals, 2014 will look a lot like this year, with 32% of companies expecting to increase head count in their IT shops, compared with 33% in 2013, according to Computerworld’s annual Forecast survey.
But while demand will remain steady overall, there have been a few changes in the skill sets most desired by hiring managers. Unemployment “is probably close to zero for people with high-demand skill sets,” says Michael Kirven, founder and CEO of Mondo, a technology resource provider. Employers in search of top skills, he says, need to be prepared to move fast. “If you want them, you can be 100% sure there are at least two other firms that want them, as well,” he says.
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New hiresWhat changes do you expect in your IT employee head count in the next 12 months?IncreaseDecreaseRemain the same20102011201220132014Year010203040506070Percent
Data from 2014 Forecast Survey (Base: 221; June 2013), 2013 Survey, 2012 Survey, 2011 Survey and 2010 Survey. Mouse over graph to get data details; click on items in chart key to turn them on and off.
Here’s a look at the IT skills that will be in demand next year, according to companies with plans to hire IT professionals in 2014.
1. Programming/application development
• 49% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year’s ranking: No. 1
As it did in the 2013 Forecast survey, programming/application development tops the list of hot skills, although just under half of the 221 respondents said they will hire in this area, compared with 60% last year. Scot Melland, CEO of Dice Holdings, parent of IT jobs website Dice.com, concurs that software developers are the most sought-after technology workers and notes that they enjoy one of the lowest unemployment rates around — just 1.8%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s no wonder, then, that respondents to the Computerworld 2014 Forecast survey named developer and programmer job openings as the most difficult to fill. The hottest specialties within that category, Melland says, are mobile development expertise and experience building secure applications.
Carbonite, an online backup service provider, expects to find a tight market for software developers and engineers as it shifts its business model to focus on the needs of small businesses, says Randy Bogue, vice president of talent at the Boston-based company.
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“While there are a lot of experienced software developers in the Boston area, there are just as many technology companies looking to hire them,” he says. “We find this while looking for front-end developers, user experience engineers, mobile developers and pretty much any other software development position.”
Lucille Mayer, CIO at BNY Mellon, also expects to have difficulty finding developers. The financial services company has several hundred openings, mainly in New York City and Pittsburgh, and about 40% of those are in development. Another 30% are in infrastructure, 20% are for business analysis/project management positions, and 10% are in management.
“Demand is high for skilled developers with three to five years’ experience and a service delivery orientation,” says Mayer, who is particularly interested in people with object-oriented development experience. Also important is finding people from diverse backgrounds, with diverse ideas and perspectives, she says.
Hospitality giant Hyatt is transitioning from a reliance on third-party service providers and aims to bring more development talent in-house. “We’re looking to hire people who embrace agility and speed to move ideas to prototype and production quickly,” says Alex Zoghlin, Hyatt’s global head of technology.
2. Help desk/technical support
• 37% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year’s ranking: No. 3
Help desk/tech support remained near the top of the list, moving up from No. 3 last year. Melland says that’s an encouraging sign for the economy and the overall hiring outlook. “Organizations mainly add help desk and tech support when they’re adding workers and expanding their technology infrastructure,” he says. Also contributing to demand for support technicians is the fact that many companies are bringing the help desk back in-house after outsourcing that function; that’s partly a response to the proliferation of mobile devices and company-provided Web services. Because of the complexity of such setups, “it’s important for support staff to really understand what the company is doing, which argues for having this function closer to home,” Melland says.
After several years of running a lean support function, Wolverine Advanced Materials in Dearborn, Mich., plans to hire a few help desk staffers in response to business growth and a decision to provide ITIL-based service management, says James Bland, network manager at the automotive materials supplier. “There is growth in the company, so we’re more confident in hiring,” he says.
3. Networking
• 31% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year’s ranking: No. 8
Demand for networking skills jumped to No. 3 from eighth place last year. This correlates with the results of a recent survey by IT hiring firm Robert Half Technology, in which 55% of the respondents named network administration as the skill set most in demand, along with database management.
If you expect your IT employee head count to increase, for which types of skills will you be hiring in the next 12 months?
Programming/application development 49%
Help desk/technical support 37%
Networking 31%
Mobile applications and device management 27%
Project management 25%
Database administration 24%
Security 21%
Business intelligence/analytics 18%
Source: Computerworld Forecast survey; base: 221 IT executive respondents; June 2013
The need for wireless connectivity is probably behind the interest in networking professionals, Melland says. “Demand for people with wireless networking experience is up 9% year over year,” he says, and the unemployment rate for network and systems administrators is 1.1%.
Charles Whitby, lead network analyst at the Medical Center of Central Georgia, says growing use of wireless medical devices is definitely fueling his workload. In addition to the increased network traffic they produce, those devices require a lot of troubleshooting — as is the case when, for example, their firmware needs upgrading but it hasn’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, he says.
Meanwhile, at Wolverine, Bland is looking to offload some networking responsibilities so he can concentrate on more strategic issues.
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