IT salaries jump 10% with development-led jobs demand: report

Stan Beer
Monday, 04 June 2007 06:39

IT People - Enterprise

IT salaries in Australia jumped 10% in May, as a shortfall in local technology skills continues to put upward pressure on pay rates, according to a new report. Areas and skills most in demand include project management, application development and J2SE.

The IT sector continues to experience strong activity levels with the first half of 2007 characterised by demand for candidates outstripping supply in a number of key markets, according to the Ambition Technology Recruitment Market Trends and Salaries Report for Winter 2007, released today by ASX-listed IT recruiter Ambition Technology.

“The demand for Analysts, Project Managers, Application Developers, ERP Consultants, and Storage and Security professionals continues unabated,” said Andy Cross, Managing Director, Ambition Technology. “There has been particular demand for professionals with software development skills generally, and J2SE experience in particular.”

Mr Cross said that while IT contracting had not returned to the heady days pre-Y2K, the demand for short-term contractors remained strong and hourly rates had risen accordingly.

“In the permanent space, companies are fighting to both attract and retain top talent,” he said. “While there has been improvement in retention strategies, attraction is still an issue, partly due to the demand for specific skills sets with those candidates demonstrating the desired suite of communication, technical, analytical and problem solving skills snapped up quickly.”

Commenting on the senior technology management space, Andy Cross said that activity at the top end had stabilised with little movement in CIO salaries following a period of heightened activity in the latter part of 2006.

“Effectively there are two markets at senior technology levels,” he said. “Senior IT manager salaries are in the $180K to $250K range, while the CIO range is broader between $180K up to $500K for an ASX-listed Top 300.”

The Ambition Report also highlighted the trend that there is still no end in sight to the skills shortage.  Andy Cross emphasised the need for educators from secondary school levels upwards to work with government and industry to consider strategies that would attract candidates to the IT industry.

“What’s needed is an accounting industry-style campaign, such as that run by the CPAs, to show successful profiles of IT industry candidates and inform people about the great opportunities for career develop the IT industry offers.”

Looking ahead, Cross said that the next six month would see salary levels steady and a continuing focus on attraction strategies.

“We’re seeing companies looking to source candidates from other disciplines and reskill and retrain them in IT roles,” he said.

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