Hays has released its annual Salary Guide 2011 report into the state of the information technology sector throughout the country, providing an upbeat assessment of the industry while showing a strong increase in demand for IT professionals and expected wage increases.

 

The report found that the information technology sector had experienced a ‘buoyant year’, underpinned by positive market sentiments and technological advances.

 

The report found that ‘There were many technological trends over the year. Cloud computing came to the fore; in association, security remained a focus as companies secured not just the network, but applications too. Mobile computing and convergent technologies became business as usual as did the use of social media. Within this, data storage and content management were key areas.’

 

The report found increased interest in the National Broadband Network, changing IT methodology, integration of projects in the IT sector and the efficiency gained from intelligent IT use resulted in an increase in demand for IT professionals, notably in project and business analysis, software development and infrastructure areas.

 

The report found that “Given these trends, it should be no surprise that demand increased for skilled IT professionals. In some areas, notably projects, business analysis, software development and certain infrastructure areas, shortages were prevalent throughout the year.”

 

In the infrastructure and networking space, candidates with CISCO, F5, Juniper and Nortel vendor skills are in demand, while demand is growing for skilled data centre, Citrix and virtualisation skills.

 

The report also found that ‘the speed of recruitment has picked up in the public sector. Informal meetings and phone interviews are replacing formal face-to-face interviews as organisations attempt to secure talent quicker. This is causing problems for many organisations that have long hiring processes.’

 

Hays has also reported that salaries are increasing across the IT sector, “particularly for roles where contracting is widespread as employers attempt to secure candidates on a permanent basis’. , the report specified these areas as project manages and business analysts.

 

The report found that  “In the public sector, salaries are increasing for skills in demand, in particular Engineers with VMware skills, Engineers with Exchange 2010, Server 2008 and Windows 7, Win7 SOE Architects, as well as Business Analysts and Project Managers with highly specific skill sets.”

 

Hays has also reported that they believe the skill shortage in the areas of cloud computing and support areas such as security, storage and data centre management will continue to deepen.

 

The report continues to say “We will see organisations start to upgrade enterprise systems and this will create demand for roll-out co-ordinators and SCCM candidates”.

 

The report concludes With IT budgets rising to take advantage of technology, we expect a buoyant 12 months ahead. Permanent salaries will rise gradually as companies increase headcount”

 

The full report can be requested from Hays here