As it was for just about everyone connected with the technology
industry, the turn of the decade was a golden age for IT recruiters:
Workers were eager to have top-tier companies bidding for their
services, and companies were all too glad to dangle big salaries in
front of the most promising talent. As the industry continues trying to
find itself, so too do employers, workers, and the recruiters who try to
unite them. Since their livelihood depends on knowing where the jobs
are, we polled a number of recruiters to find out which areas of IT are
heating up for 2005, and which are cooling off.
What's up
Security, big and small: Regardless of size, business owners
are putting security at the top of their to-do list. "People who combine
a security clearance with almost any technical skill set are in good
shape right now, as are people with a security background," says Lamont
Meeks, Midwest recruiting director for Houston-based COMSYS Information
Technology Services. "There is a huge emphasis on hacking prevention and
the overall design and creation of secured technical systems."
Meanwhile, big-picture security is still gaining momentum two years
after 9/11. "Anything related to government security clearances is hot,"
says Rich Milgram, CEO of Haverford, Pa.-based Artemis HR.
"With defense
contracts escalating, major job boards have recently done deals along
this front: 4Jobs.com is involved in large recruiting efforts for The
Army National Guard, the U.S. Army, and the Army Reserves; Dice.com
recently acquired ClearanceJobs.com; and Monster is working with
Military.com." IT auditing: Compliance is as important in IT as in any
industry--maybe more so. That makes a skilled IT auditor a hot
commodity. "They're popular right now due to the prevalence of
Sarbanes-Oxley compliance projects," says Kevin Hudson, vice president
of Product Management Technology for Tampa, Fla.-based Kforce Inc.
"A
year ago, you found very few jobs for IT auditors on the job boards. Now
there are hundreds if not thousands posted on the major boards. I do not
know how long there will be a demand in this area, but right now demand
far exceeds supply." Support: Where there are computers, there are
computer problems, and where there are computer problems, there must be
computer support professionals and help-desk workers. "We are seeing the
whole area of PC and network support continuing to have strong demand,"
says Hudson. "It's being driven by positions like systems administrator,
systems design and hardware, and software support." Voice-over Internet
Protocol: "VoIP is a sector that should continue to be strong," says
Mike Kendall, CEO of the St. Louis-based Kendall Placement Group.
"Candidates with wide-area networking experience, router experience, and
VOIP experience will be in high demand." .Net programming: Microsoft's
strategic architecture for distributed computing isn't for novices, and
so naturally, a high skill level in this area is coveted. "It's one of
the hottest skill sets on the market right now," says John Martin,
president of Atlanta-based Impact Innovations Group. "We average eight
to 10 open .Net positions on a pretty consistent basis." Also on the
rise: Web design, computer networking, programming in Java and C++,
database administration, database modeling, engineering (electrical,
mechanical, civil, and architectural), aerospace, RF engineering, and
biotech.
What's down
A number of job segments have dropped off due to a number of
factors, the primary culprits being outsourcing, over-supply, and plain
old creeping obsolescence. Mainframe development: "It's been relegated
primarily to support or analyst roles," says COMSYS's Meeks. "These
positions will never go away, but they will drop down in pay towards
second- to third-level support folks. They will never get too far back
above the $60,000 salary mark." "I don't think it is news to anyone that
the demand for mainframe programmers has declined dramatically
post-Y2K," agrees Hudson. "There are still jobs, just not at a level
that gets anyone's attention."
Java development: "It isn't declining in
usage--quite the opposite, actually," says Meeks. "But we are starting
to see some market saturation. This will cause rates to decrease for
your average front-end developer. Server-side folks and architects won't
see much in the way of pay-rate pressure." Network engineering: "It's
still a great career choice," says Elliot Clark, COO of Wayne, Pa.-based
Kenexa. "But newer, efficient technologies can allow a much smaller team
to manage a large network, so a lot of those folks are looking for
work." Programming: Though some experts see a boom in specific areas of
programming, others see a bust, at least for now. "Programming jobs in
general have been down because companies have not been investing in new
or upgraded systems," says Hudson. "I hope and believe that this will
change as we see companies spending in this area again." Also on the
wane: software engineering, hardware engineering, computer science, IT
operations, applications maintenance, and systems analysis.
