Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What Tech Skills are Hot for 2006 ?
Computerworld ^ | 12/27/2005 | Thomas Hoffman

Posted on 01/03/2006 8:53:46 AM PST by SirLinksalot

What Tech Skills Are Hot for 2006?

Developers, security experts and project managers will be in demand

News Analysis by Thomas Hoffman

DECEMBER 27, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Whether you're looking for a job or looking to fill one, expect hiring to heat up this year, driven by small but consistent gains in IT budgets. And if you're a job seeker with the right skills, 2006 could be your big year. Despite the notion that hordes of U.S. IT jobs are being sent offshore, in reality, less than 5% of the 10 million people who make up the U.S. IT job market had been displaced by foreign workers through 2004, says Scot Melland, president and CEO of Dice Inc., a New York-based online jobs service. The numbers of jobs posted on Dice.com from January through September for developers, project managers and help desk technicians rose 40%, 47% and 45%, respectively, compared with the same period in 2004, says Melland.

In fact, an exclusive Computerworld survey revealed that two of the top four skills IT executives will hire for in the coming year are perennially linked with outsourcing, namely, application development (ranked first) and IT help desk skills (ranked fourth). Information security skills ranked second, and project management came in third.

Here's what staffing experts have to say about the demand in these hot skills areas.

1. Desperate For Developers

There's a lot of talk about developer jobs being sent overseas, but "most of the stuff that's going offshore is low-level coding jobs," says Craig Symons, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. Over the past year, companies have started working through their backlog of IT projects. As a result, says Symons, demand for developers with .Net and Java skills has increased, as has the need for business analysts and IT relationship managers who work with business managers to understand their divisions' requirements.

Case in point: An employer that was working with Talenthire.com, a job placement service in Atlanta, was recently negotiating salary terms with an entry-level C++ and .Net developer. The technician, who had graduated from college in 2004 and probably started his career making $40,000-plus per year, quickly moved up in salary by about $10,000, says Mike Veronesi, a managing partner at Talenthire.com. After Talenthire.com's customer offered the candidate $60,000, he demanded $62,500. "In this marketplace, those people are just tough to get," says Veronesi.

"Customer requirements [for developers] are getting much more specific," says Jim Lanzalotto, vice president of strategy and marketing at Yoh Services LLC in Philadelphia. "The requirement used to be 'Give me a good CRM developer,' " says Lanzalotto. "Now, the requirement is 'Give me a good CRM developer with specific experience in the pharmaceutical industry.' "

NStar, a Boston-based energy utility, is hunting for developers with the power-industry experience needed to support its supervisory control and data acquisition environment, says Eugene Zimon, senior vice president and CIO at the company.

"I would see the need for application developers as much more specialized in terms of developing integration components, user interfaces and reusable components," says Zimon. "It's application development, but it's much more specialized and targeted to make use of your existing infrastructure."

2. Seeking Security Mavens

There's continued demand for people with information security skills, say Symons and others. And even though long-term demand is expected to remain strong, the growing ranks of people who have obtained IT security certifications has had a short-term dampening effect on compensation.

David Foote, principal and chief research officer at Foote Partners LLC in New Canaan, Conn., says there has been strong demand for people with Cisco security skills as well as those with IT auditing certifications. Still, he says, compensation for security skills has tapered off in recent months as many unemployed and underemployed IT workers have obtained security skills to become more marketable. The resulting increase in security specialists has helped to deflate wages, at least in the short term, says Foote.

Dice's Melland says he's starting to see skills shortages in different geographies, including a need for network security experience and government security clearances.

To meet its own changing business requirements, NStar is adjusting its skill mix of full-time IT workers and contractors through attrition, new hires and retraining, says Zimon. High on its list are security analysts because NStar is in the final throes of a four-year effort to create a team of security and risk management specialists.

3. In Pursuit of Project Managers

As the economy continues to improve, companies are beginning to attack their backlog of projects, which is helping to fuel the demand for project developers. As a result, project managers with specific expertise -- like those who have worked on projects related to Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance -- are becoming harder to find, says Frank Enfanto, vice president of health care services systems delivery at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts Inc. in Boston.

"There are a lot of security- and compliance-related requirements that are driving a lot of the spending in projects these days," says Enfanto.

Location is another issue. "It's really frustrating trying to find project managers in this geography," says Mark Uihlein, vice president of information systems at Mohegan Sun, a gaming and resort company in Uncasville, Conn. Aside from the casino, Uncasville, which is in the southeastern corner of Connecticut, is rural, says Uihlein, and most employers in the greater Hartford area are in insurance and financial services.

Many big companies are working on multiple projects simultaneously, which is fueling a "critical need" for project managers, says Andy Baker, senior recruiting manager at Allstate Insurance Corp. in Northbrook, Ill. In addition to finding the right people in an ever-tightening labor market, Allstate is also wrestling with determining whether the business units in need of project managers have funds they can set aside for possible relocation costs, he adds.


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: 2006; hot; techskills; trends
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-75 next last
To: JNL
Security (most "security experts" can't secure their own PC's)

Um...what "security experts" are you hanging around? Sure, there are a lot of charlatans in the field, but that doesn't mean they're all pretenders.

Personally, I put little stock in security wizardry claims. I instead look for papers, utilities, and presentations done by the party in question. Those speak more clearly to their skill set than any FUD-hyped media coverage or overinflated security claims.

21 posted on 01/03/2006 9:56:26 AM PST by Prime Choice (We are RepubliCANs, not RepubliCAN'Ts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: add925

<<<< Informatics >>>

Definition : the collection, classification, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of recorded knowledge.

This is nothing but the classical definition of Information Technology ....


22 posted on 01/03/2006 10:00:53 AM PST by SirLinksalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: JNL
ha, ha, ha.

you really think the network guy slot is more important and harder to fill than developers and PM's?

on our project with 27 technical slots, there is only one network slot because that is all that is needed and there was a ton of them available because the tech schools keep pumping them out every six to nine months.

a trained developer who can actually perform, they are worth the money. And here is the dirty secret network people don't want anyone else to know - in hard times, the developers can always double duty as network engineers but the network engineers can rarely ever step up and design and code applications.

developers a dime a dozen? only if they don't know what they are doing. network people (regardless of which flavor) those are the dime a dozen slots.

pm's - I'll give you this one but maybe 2 for 1 instead of a dime a dozen since there are some who know what they are doing and some who really do nothing but generate busy work.
23 posted on 01/03/2006 10:09:42 AM PST by AlanSC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Speaking of hot technical skills, I was once a diesel fitter at a pantyhose factory. I'd pull samples off the line, hold them up for inspection, then shout, "Diesel fitter!"
Sadly, the factory closed, and I'm now working as a sundial at a nudist colony...


24 posted on 01/03/2006 10:19:51 AM PST by talleyman (Kerry & the Surrender-Donkey Treasoncrats - trashing the troops for 40 years.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AlanSC

ROTFLMAO

Spoken like a true developer. Good network guys (not guys with their technical papers from a cracker jack box) are far from a dime a dozen. Sure you can take your MCSE's and your Linux Gurus but I'd put them up against an experienced Big Iron network guy any day.

As for a developer doing real network adsministration don't make me laugh. Most developers couldn't tell you what a TCP/IP stack is to save their life. Ask a developer to subnet a network and they pee their panties. Real men do mainframes, girls type.


25 posted on 01/03/2006 10:22:02 AM PST by JNL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: JNL

Yep, we'd go back and forth on this topic all day I think.

And yes, just as, "spoken as a true developer" I can see the reverse in your reply.

But you go right on and set up the network there big iron. Once you are done, then the real work begins (which is usually what pays the bills year after year and long after the big iron men do their little thing).


26 posted on 01/03/2006 10:28:00 AM PST by AlanSC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Prime Choice; JNL
.....security (most "security experts" can't secure their own PC's) Um...what "security experts" are you hanging around? Sure, there are a lot of charlatans in the field, but that doesn't mean they're all pretenders........

21 posted on 01/03/2006 10:56:26 AM MST by Prime Choice

Security will always be big issue until the industry comes to understand
that the greatest charlatan is Bill Gates.

The basic design of all windows allows for penetration.

Vista will be no better!

BSD was designed on a DARPA contract to be unhackable twenty-five years ago.

Long live OSX and Solaris.

Get Root !

27 posted on 01/03/2006 10:28:32 AM PST by Uri’el-2012 (Trust in the YHvH for ever, for the LORD, YHvH is the Rock eternal. (Isaiah 26:4))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: caver

"An on the ball designer/engineer can handle the job themselves."

Well said and all to true...


28 posted on 01/03/2006 10:35:55 AM PST by ezo4
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Prime Choice

The secuirty field has become a hot field. Like web scripters in the 90's everyone and their dog is getting into the field. The market has become a mess. Take a short example.

For some reason my CTO wanted to implement webmail. He went with exchange because M$ gave it to us for free. We called in a security expert /MCSE to give us the lowdown on the risks associated with implementing OWA. Goes like this

Security expert: Open these two billion (I exaggerate) ports and your webmail can sit on your DMZ.

Myself: No

Security expert: It will only work that way, I'll secure your DMZ for you

Myself: No

Security expert: OK big shot

Myself: Proxy pass through Unix open one port 443 on the firewall.

Security Expert: Refers to Unix box as magic box. Refers to solution as wizardry. Still claims that it should not work.


Security Expert still gets paid wanders off with head up ass.

I admit there are guys out there that are good, very good, but my experience with the majority has been lacking.


29 posted on 01/03/2006 10:36:47 AM PST by JNL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot
Informatics tends to be focused on an open platform where users guide the development rather than canned software suppliers.

Its an attempt to change the classic IT genre abit. Promotes itself as much more flexible than old-school IT.

30 posted on 01/03/2006 10:39:18 AM PST by add925 ("Never Interfere with a Lifestyle that Thins Out the Liberal Herd" - Me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: JNL
Explain to your wife for the one thousand time what you do for a living and get that confused blank look.

Isn't this the truth! :-) I'm a Unix SA and I've learned not to get deep in the details when discussing my projects with my wife. She's not stupid, it's just that her eyes kind of glaze over when I talk about upgrading systems or migrating the data to a new SAN. She does like the paycheck I bring home.
31 posted on 01/03/2006 10:40:48 AM PST by rochester_veteran (born and raised in rachacha!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child
I don't know if this counts as a "tech skill," but someone who has skills as a technical writer can probably do very well in almost any economic climate.

Amen. That's my "second" skill after producing technically oriented video content. When the video work slacked off, I got thrown onto a tech manual rewrite, and it's keeping me employed.

32 posted on 01/03/2006 10:42:18 AM PST by SlowBoat407 (The best stuff happens just before the thread snaps.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: AlanSC

But that makes no sense. I work in an industry that primarily revolves around storage / archival / uptime critical servers. Developers rarely if ever cross my path. My day to day stuff is trending, predictive, and proactive action on failure. You claim that developers make the money. Last time I checked without us grunts there wouldn't be any money to make.


33 posted on 01/03/2006 10:42:44 AM PST by JNL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: JNL

...and without developers to create apps and users to then use the apps, and support staff to help the users, then why are you setting up anything in the first place?

you are simply the first step in the process - and thus, when your part is done, it is done and not a case of continuing care and feeding (use the cracker jack box boy for new accounts) if everything was done correctly the first time.


34 posted on 01/03/2006 10:46:14 AM PST by AlanSC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: caver
Why is there a need for project managers? It seems like all these people do is go to meetings. They produce nothing of value. An on the ball designer/engineer can handle the job themselves.

I guess you also feel: Why is there a need for a football coach - an on the ball football player can handle the job themselves.

Most projects involve many designers, engineers, QA personal, etc - the project manager is key to getting work done. The last thing you need is 10 designers/engineers handling their own job each in their own special way. Unless it is a one man project - the Project Manager in more important than the designers/engineers. The Project Manager herds the cats.

BTW: I am both a designer/engineer and project manager - they are two different disciplines and both are absolutely necessary.

35 posted on 01/03/2006 10:48:48 AM PST by Last Visible Dog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

It's safe to say that optimists and pessimists will come down the issue in their own way.


36 posted on 01/03/2006 10:49:36 AM PST by 1rudeboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AlanSC
...and without developers to create apps and users to then use the apps, and support staff to help the users, then why are you setting up anything in the first place?

The back and forth between you and JNL is silly. It reminds me of the secretary who thinks that without them their company would implode. Almost all of the parts of a business are important.

37 posted on 01/03/2006 10:50:44 AM PST by mikegi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: SirLinksalot

Managers don't like to send code overseas. Overseas coders aren't very happy about changes and managers love to change specs more than they love to eat. The giant sucking sound doesn't really exist in IT as much as everyone thinks.

Security clearance is hot now as well.


38 posted on 01/03/2006 10:50:57 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AlanSC

See that's what you're missing. Sure on smaller networks you can get away with the Cracker Jack Box. But on large storage networks with mission critical data that becomes a lot harder. You have your Jr Admins doing the basic stuff but when it comes down to failure on a massive scale you need someone with experience.

Storage / Predictive network systems management has become an art unto itself that can't be taught in a classroom. I can't depend on a developer to script some of the stuff I do so naturally I do it myself.


39 posted on 01/03/2006 10:52:39 AM PST by JNL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: AlanSC

I wish I had a nickel for every time I've seen a "network guy" have to diagnose the problems in a developer's application.


40 posted on 01/03/2006 10:55:40 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-75 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson