A new technology wage survey reports that technical salaries were up 3.1 percent in 2006 from 2005 and this year bodes even better.
The compensation increase is due to continued strong steady business growth, says Jim Lanzalotto, vice president of strategy and marketing at
Yoh, which released its quarterly index of tech wages this week. Yoh, founded in 1940 and headquartered in Philadelphia, PA., is a leading provider of talent and outsourcing services and a unit of Day & Zimmermann.
"The index hit an all-time high in the second quarter of 2006, and we expect that trend to continue this year. The wage growth is not out-of-control growth, but consistent and likely won't change unless some global economic issue comes into play," explains Lanzalotto.
According to Yoh, the big jumps in compensation will take place for high-level technical jobs and for professionals working in specific technologies such as SAP, or in specific roles such as project managers. Companies are handing off non-critical tasks and streamlining costs in administration and other business tasks and placing greater emphasis on mission-critical technology efforts.
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For example, IT professionals working on ERP projects will see a compensation hike as companies continue to invest money into that initiative. "They're trying to get the most out of that investment," says Lanzalotto, adding that new technologies coming into play, such as the collaborative tool Duet, from SAP and Miscrosoft, will also spur business growth and trickle down to increased IT compensation.
"The tech world is also changing today. We're seeing more compensation in specialized areas as companies seek to hire specific skill sets for specific needs," says Lanzalotto. For instance, where a life sciences firm may have once recruited for a Seibel expert, now it's aiming to hire a Siebel project manager with pharmaceutical experience. "This is a significant hiring trend change."
Job seekers should be keeping watch of the hiring trends and getting prepared to fulfill such niche technology roles as the pay will be greater in those specific needs areas.
"[2007] is such a great opportunity for IT professionals who have the right kills and background. The opportunities are huge as companies will continue to make big investments with technology," says Yoh's VP.
According to Yoh's findings, companies will have the most difficult time this year finding candidates with specialized technical skills and specific domain and industry experience, especially for technology services and device manufacturers in the hardware space.
Yoh's research suggests a short fall on high-impact talent— R&D and software developers for example. The 2007 Yoh market analysis found there will be nationwide demand in the R&D space for firmware engineers and hardware engineers.
The company also expects a big demand for staff experienced in Business Objects and Java, as well as MS developers, SAS programmers, and systems architects.
Yoh's 2007 market analysis also examined the technology skills in greatest demand by employers in 12 major U.S. technology hubs. Yoh found some of the hottest regional jobs to be:
Atlanta: Java Developer, MS Developer, Project Manager
Austin/Dallas/Houston: .NET C# Developer, Java/J2EE Architect and Developer, SQL DBA
Boston: Business Systems Analyst, Project Manager, Clinical Research Associate
Charlotte: Java Developer, MS Developer, Project Manager
Cincinnati/Cleveland: SAP consultant, Oracle consultant, Oracle DBA
Indianapolis: SAP consultant, Oracle consultant, Oracle DBA
Northern New Jersey: ERP Consultant, CRM Project Manager, .NET Developer
Philadelphia: Network Security Specialist, Java Developer, .NET developer
Phoenix: .NET Developer, Project Manager, Java/J2EE Architect and Developer
Research Triangle Park: Clinical Research Associate, Clinical Project Manager, Clinical Data Manager
Seattle: Software Developer Engineer, Hardware/Firmware Engineer, MS Developer: .NET, C#, VB6
Silicon Valley: Firmware Engineer, ASIC Design Engineer, Embedded Engineer
Southern California: Software Engineer - Applications Development, Software Engineer - Embedded Systems, Aerospace Engineer
"Heading into 2007, hiring managers will need a foolproof battle plan to hire top talent with expertise in their specific industry," says Lanzalotto. "And to mobilize effectively, HR leaders need to be proactive in their talent acquisition efforts, and concentrate on developing an engaging employer brand with attractive compensation packages that will draw in the best qualified talent from the shallow labor pool."
Read the 2007 market analysis report and view list of the top 10 positions in greatest demand in a variety of regions by clicking
here.
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