Technology wages are near an all-time high recorded in February according to a newly released quarterly survey of more than 9,000 hiring managers representing more than 15 major metropolitan areas.
Yoh Index of Technology Wages
The average hourly wage for tech workers approaches $32 per hour.Not all technology skills are valued equally, however. Among the hottest skills, according to Yoh Index of Technology Wages are the following:
- Java developers
- .Net developers
- Oracle database administrators
This tech profile mirrors the demand for technology workers as identified in the Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston located in the right-hand column.
Demand for .NET Developers
The demand for .NET developers also parallels recent trends.Two competing technologies for developing interactive websites are PHP and ASP.NET. According to PHP's own website, PHP usage has leveled off after years of growth.
The Web server technology platforms that support PHP and ASP.NET are Apache and Internet Information Server (IIS), respectively.
According to Netcraft's monthly Market Share for Top Servers, Apache's commanding market share has dropped to 50% for the first time since 1998. Microsoft's share has climbed to an all-time high of 35 percent.
Fortune 1000 Web Servers
Further analysis reveals that Microsoft web server technology holds a commanding lead in the large companies that comprise the Fortune 1000.
According to port80 Software, web server share in this market is as follows:
.NET Future
Demand for .NET developers should stay strong, if not expand, as Microsoft continues on a pace of reporting its fastest quarterly operating growth since 1999. The company has already begun focusing its formidable marketing resources ahead of the release of SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 scheduled for the first quarter of the new year.
If your target market is medium to large companies, you can't afford to bet against Microsoft. Consider adding ASP.NET to your Web development arsenal by downloading express (free) editions of SQL Server 2005 and Visual Web Developer today.
