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ICT Trends – 2014 in Retrospect

Job Prospects

The February ICT trends article emphasised a rosy outlook for employment in the IT/ICT industry. This optimism was based on a number of reports by Computerworld, Techday and other reputable publications referring to a continuing growth in new jobs, combined with a shortage of graduates with the requisite knowledge and skills and a lack of highly skilled professionals.

The demand generated by job growth was reinforced with a hefty 62 per cent increase between January and August in the 2014 ICT job adverts on both the Seek ICT and Trademe IT websites. This was 7 per cent ahead of the same period last year and the trend continued with November’s Seek ICT job adverts 9 per cent up on the November 2013 figure.

Tertiary ICT Enrolments

On the supply side data derived from the MoE Education Counts website indicated an increase in ICT degree EFTS (Equivalent Full Time Student) for 2012 of 9 per cent on the 2011 figures while completions were up 27 per cent for the same period. The domestic ICT enrolments (EFTS) for both diplomas and degrees continue to trend upwards. A 30 per cent increase in overall EFTS enrolments between the 2008 trough and 2012 gives prospective employers of ICT graduates a reason to be cautiously optimistic.

Employment Growth

The March ICT trends article featured the 2014 Occupation Outlook annual report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) website, which anticipated that the ICT sector would provide some of the fastest job growth. According to the report employment is expected to grow at an annual average of 3.6 per cent between 2011 and 2016, and at 3 per cent annually between 2016 and 2021. The report also forecasted a predicted increase in demand for database and systems administrators and referred to the top 10 transferable skills that employers look for including; communication, an ability to work well in a team, planning and organisational skills, and problem-solving.

Skills in Demand

According to the forecast survey results published in a recent Computerworld article a number of (USA) employers are anticipating a continuing growth in IT jobs for 2015. Furthermore, the kinds of technical skills in high demand are those needed for enterprises in expansion mode, suggesting that organizations are continuing to invest in their IT infrastructures.

The most in-demand skills identified in the article are listed in table 1, together with the current number of NZ Seek ICT job adverts and associated salary range, as revealed by the Seek website active filter.

Rank #Hottest IT Skills for 2015

*Number of Seek ICT Job

Adverts (all NZ) as at

20 Nov 2014

Salary Range

(Typical)

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Programming/Application Development

As was the case for the previous two years, IT departments are more likely to have job openings for programmers and developers than for any other position.

173/740 $70k - $140k

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Rank #Hottest IT Skills for 2015

*Number of Seek ICT Job

Adverts (all NZ) as at

20 Nov 2014

Salary Range

(Typical)

2 Project Management

Demand for project managers jumped four spots up the list this year.

660 $95k - $110k

3 Help Desk/Technical Support

List of devices and applications that departments must support expanding due to

ongoing projects.

150/443 $40k - $80k

4 Security/Compliance Governance

Business organisations are willing to spend more money on security because security breaches are making headlines these days.

229/4 $70k - $150k

5 Web Development

Web development expertise is one of the hardest skill sets to find.

524 $60k - $130k

6 Database Administration

The buzz around big data is what’s driving much of today’s demand for people with this skill.

120 $55k - $100k

7 Business Intelligence/Analytics

Those planning to add IT positions in the next 12 months listed BI/analytics expertise as the skill set they expect to have the hardest time finding.

95/66 $80k - $140k

8 Mobile Applications & Device Management

The challenge is meeting the demand for mobile apps by employees who bring their own devices to work.

171/33 $50k - $120k

9 Networking

Organisations are looking for people with expertise in IP routing, switching, firewall filtering, packet capture and packet tracing/debugging, optical networking, network management, and virtual environments and integration.

193 $60k - $100k

10 Big Data

The organisations awareness that the data brings value has created this surge in demand.

64 $65k - $120k

Notes:

* Job advert numbers may be distorted due to overlaps

# Comments in italics derived from Computerworld article

Table 1 Hottest Skills for 2015

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Programming Languages in Demand

Table 2 lists the top 6 most popular programming languages in demand in NZ for November, as defined by the number of (filtered) jobs advertised on the Seek ICT website. C# continues to top the order by a substantial margin, 56 per cent ahead of its nearest rival Java.

Order of Popularity

Programming Language *Seek ICT Job Adverts for November

1 C# 322

2 Java 206

3 PHP 106

4 C++ 66

5 Python 60

6 Ruby/Ruby on Rails 53/30

Table 2 Programming languages in Demand

* Many adverts refer to multiple languages

Job Adverts

The number of Seek ICT Job adverts for November has followed the usual downward trend for this time of the year with a 5 per cent decline on last month. However, the figure of 2382 is 9 per cent ahead of this time last year (Fig.1).

Fig.1 Seek ICT Job Adverts Monthly Trends 2010 –2014 (November)

The number of Trademe IT job adverts for November is 10.6 per cent down on last month’s figure of 1254, but is up by 6.6 per cent on last year’s November advert figure (Fig.2).

This month’s Trademe IT total represents an overall increase of almost 40 per cent since the beginning the year, a significant reduction on the January to October increase of 53 per cent.

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Fig.2 Seek ICT & Trademe IT Job Advert Trends to November 2014

Figure 3 illustrates a slight fall overall in Seek ICT job adverts for this month with Canterbury bucking the trend, up 14 per cent. Wellington leads the increase in adverts for the year to November at 65 per cent, followed by Canterbury with 54 per cent, and Auckland with a 42 per cent increase.

The increase for all NZ for the year to November is 46 per cent (Refer to figure 4 for specific numbers). This is 10 per cent higher than for the January to November period last year.

Fig.3 Seek ICT Job Advert Trends Monthly Change for November 2014

Figure 4 provides a detailed record of the Seek ICT job advert trends by region for the year to

November 2014.

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Fig.4 Seek ICT Job Advert Monthly Trends to November 2014

Conclusion

The current and anticipated growth in ICT jobs augurs well for prospective suitably qualified and/or experienced employees.

The challenge for employers in the rapidly changing ICT business environment is finding suitably qualified and experienced staff to help deliver the skills required for the ever growing/evolving demands. Tertiary ICT EFTS enrolments and completions are gradually increasing, although the current numbers are insufficient to meet the ongoing demand. Hence, employers are looking to Immigration NZ’s LTSSL (Long Term Skills Shortage List) to help address the shortfall in specified ANZSCO (Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations) ICT vocations.

The establishment of Code Club Aotearoa and the TEC and MBIE Grad School initiative, together with other intiatives, such as IITP’s ICT Connect programme, should help in promoting ‘IT as an interesting, challenging, rewarding and diverse profession at the cutting edge of innovation.’

News Bytes: A to Z

Africa – IT Web.co.za: Future skills focus shift for Africa

We need to educate and equip people with the skill sets needed for jobs that will be available in the future.

NZ - Computerworld.co.nz: Companies use urban office locations to attract IT talent

Location, long an important factor in real estate, now ranks as a concern for companies hiring IT workers.

NZ – Computerworld.co.nz: Record-number of Kiwi women embark on NZ tech careers

Thirty-three women are about to take up internships in high tech companies, an area where male students have dominated in the past.

NZ – IITP Techblog: Demand for cloud skills gathers on horizon

European and US companies involved with OpenStack to automate delivery of cloud services are looking to universities to include those skills in their curricula.

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NZ – NZTE.govt.nz: New Zealand and ICT - a perfect match?

Successful ICT companies, from the exciting start-ups to established behemoths are seen as fast-moving, innovative and exciting.

NZ – Stuff.co.nz: Why Kiwi kids should learn to code

Learning to code enables pupils to learn the step-by-step commands to make websites, games, and apps. Common coding languages include HTML, Python, CSS and JavaScript: all of which are widespread and versatile.

USA – Computerworld.com: Forecast 2015: IT spending on an upswing

Computerworld’s annual Forecast survey of IT executives shows that IT budgets are indeed continuing to make a nice recovery.

USA - Computerworld.com: IT hiring edges up: Why? Take your pick

IT labour analyst group, Janco Associates, calculated last month's IT gains at 9,500 jobs.

USA – Computerworld.com: 10 hottest IT skills for 2015

Organisations continue to invest in their IT infrastructure.