I ran across a post by Toni Bowers on TechRepublic that discussed the results of Robert Half Technology's IT Hiring Index and Skills Report and while I didn't think it gave quite a rosy picture for the IT industry (I always cringe at the thought of personnel reductions) it did provide some insight as to what skill sets might be in demand.
The report is based on interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs from U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. I didn't realize that Robert Half Technology has been tracking this kind of activity since 1995, but I guess I'll have to pay more attention in the future. The bad news is that 3% of the CIOs anticipate reducing IT staff in the first quarter of 2008, while about 10% expect to add head count and the remainder forsee no changes.
So, what were the key findings in the report?
- Windows administration (Server 2000/2003) skills are in greatest demand in IT departments.
- Networking is the hottest job category for the second straight quarter.
- CIOs in the Middle Atlantic and West South Central states are the most optimistic about hiring plans.
- Business services firms lead all industries in hiring expectations.
“Companies are investing in a range of technology initiatives, including Web 2.0 development, wireless communication and network security,” said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology.
And the skill sets most in demand are:
"Windows administration is the most sought after technical skill set in IT departments, according to 74 percent of CIOs polled. Network administration (Cisco, Nortel) was cited by 70 percent of respondents, followed by database management (Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server) at 59 percent and firewall administration at 54 percent. (Note: CIOs surveyed were allowed multiple responses.)
For the second consecutive quarter, executives ranked networking as the job category experiencing the most growth, with 19 percent of the response. This was followed by help desk/end-user support at 14 percent and applications development at 12 percent."
So, for those folks that are working in Windows administration, I would recommend getting spun up to support Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista and I always think that server virtualization is a hot topic. Assuming Microsoft Exchange is the mail server of choice for their Windows environment; training in Exchange Server 2007 and possibly Unified Communications might be a good idea too.
It was great to see that Network administration is still very much in demand and I wasn't surprised that Database and Firewall administration made the cut as well. Did the report missing anything? Are there other employment opportunities out there that cloud computing or Web 2.0 might bring in demand?
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