Is the IT industry recovering? It might be, if
recruitment figures are to be believed. According
to statistics from
CWJobs.co.uk, the number of
IT jobs advertised in all sectors in the
first quarter of 2010 was 4% higher than during the previous quarter. CWJobs's quarterly survey of the IT jobs market also found
that the financial services market -- perhaps the most
hardest-hit by the economic downturn -- posted 23% more jobs in Q1 than it had in Q4 2009.
The
financial services sector is one of the most IT savvy, given its
propensity for moving pieces of information around. When information is
your core product and your means of differentiation, it makes you invest
in IT more than, say, someone in the manufacturing sector might. CWJobs.co.uk says that financial services has been the top ranking sector for
IT job postings since 2006. The media follows next in terms of
permanent IT job postings, followed by retailers and the public sector.
Manufacturers come in fifth. The results are pretty much the same for
contract IT positions, aside from the public sector, which beat media,
retail and manufacturing companies to become the second most prolific
poster of contract IT jobs.
It's about time we saw some movement. 2009 was a
poor year for the IT industry overall. Gartner said last month that
worldwide IT services revenue fell 5.3% to $763 billion in 2009 as the
world recoiled from the financial crisis. We are due for some good news,
for a change.
We can see the signs of recovery in other
areas, too. In April, Gartner said that worldwide PC shipments had grown
by 27.4% in the first quarter of the year, reaching 84.3 million units
-- that's getting on for 1 million PCs each day. Slightly more
conservative figures from IDC said that the worldwide market for PCs had
grown by a more modest 24.2% to 79.1 million units. A year ago, the PC
market had seen the worst decline since 2001, slipping by almost 7%.
This indicates a massive refresh among companies which have avoided
buying new equipment for some time. Part of this might be down to the
success of Windows 7, but I suspect it's more to do with an economic
recovery thawing previously frozen budgets.
So, what are
the most common IT skills required in job postings this year?
SQL was
the most requested IT skill for both permanent and contract IT jobs,
followed by
C, and
C#.
Database skills are therefore still in high
demand. Specific database products from Oracle and Microsoft featured in
the top 10 list of skills, suggesting that this perennially sought
after skills area is still hot.
It is time to break out
the CVs again -- in the IT industry, at least, the green shoots of
recovery are firmly above the ground. Have a nice summer.
