Thursday, December 06, 2007

2008 Salary Guide

"Companies are investing in a range of technology initiatives, including Web 2.0 development . . .", according to Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology (RHT).

RHT publishes a Hiring Index and Skills Report, a quarterly technology analysis based on interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs randomly selected from U.S. companies with 100 or more employees.

Hiring Projections

Nationally, CIOs project a 10% positive differential in hiring during the first quarter:

  • increase staff (13%)
  • decrease staff (3%)

In the Boston metro area, CIOs predict a more moderate 4% positive differential in hiring during the first quarter:

  • increase staff (7%)
  • decrease staff (3%)

IT Skills in Demand

According to the report, the following Web development (Web 2.0) skills are in-demand by CIOs:

  • database management (Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server) (59%)
  • .NET development (27%)

Nearly 20 percent of IT department growth can be accounted for with these skill sets:

  • Internet/intranet development (11%)
  • Data/database management (8%)

Landing a Job

Katherine Spencer Lee offers the following four suggestions for those looking for a job in information technology:

  • broaden your focus -- smaller companies offer greater hiring potential
  • make finding a job a full-time job -- anything less and you are not maximizing your potential opportunities
  • network, network, network -- it works
  • raise your standards -- quality work gets noticed, mediocre work gets ignored

You can review the details of her advice in a recent Computerworld article. While the article is dated the advice is dead on.

2008 Salary Guide

RHT also publishes a 2008 Salary Guide. “There is strong demand for skilled developers with solid technical skills as well as the ability to solve business problems,” according to Lee in a press release announcing the Guide.

You can obtain a free copy of the Robert Half Technology 2008 Salary Guide by clicking the link below.