8 hot IT skills for 2014
Help desk staffers are coveted, but developers are the hottest commodity of all.
Computerworld - When it comes to overall job prospects for IT professionals, 2014 will look a lot like this year, with 32% of companies expecting to increase head count in their IT shops, compared with 33% in 2013, according to Computerworld's annual Forecast survey.
But while demand will remain steady overall, there have been a few changes in the skill sets most desired by hiring managers. Unemployment "is probably close to zero for people with high-demand skill sets," says Michael Kirven, founder and CEO of Mondo, a technology resource provider. Employers in search of top skills, he says, need to be prepared to move fast. "If you want them, you can be 100% sure there are at least two other firms that want them, as well," he says.
Data from 2014 Forecast Survey (Base: 221; June 2013), 2013 Survey, 2012 Survey, 2011 Survey and2010 Survey. Mouse over graph to get data details; click on items in chart key to turn them on and off.
Here's a look at the IT skills that will be in demand next year, according to companies with plans to hire IT professionals in 2014.
1. Programming/application development
• 49% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year's ranking: No. 1
• Last year's ranking: No. 1
Master disruptive technologies
As it did in the 2013 Forecast survey, programming/application development tops the list of hot skills, although just under half of the 221 respondents said they will hire in this area, compared with 60% last year. Scot Melland, CEO of Dice Holdings, parent of IT jobs website Dice.com, concurs that software developers are the most sought-after technology workers and notes that they enjoy one of the lowest unemployment rates around -- just 1.8%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's no wonder, then, that respondents to theComputerworld 2014 Forecast survey named developer and programmer job openings as the most difficult to fill. The hottest specialties within that category, Melland says, are mobile development expertise and experience building secure applications.
Carbonite, an online backup service provider, expects to find a tight market for software developers and engineers as it shifts its business model to focus on the needs of small businesses, says Randy Bogue, vice president of talent at the Boston-based company. "While there are a lot of experienced software developers in the Boston area, there are just as many technology companies looking to hire them," he says. "We find this while looking for front-end developers, user experience engineers, mobile developers and pretty much any other software development position."
Lucille Mayer, CIO at BNY Mellon, also expects to have difficulty finding developers. The financial services company has several hundred openings, mainly in New York City and Pittsburgh, and about 40% of those are in development. Another 30% are in infrastructure, 20% are for business analysis/project management positions, and 10% are in management.
"Demand is high for skilled developers with three to five years' experience and a service delivery orientation," says Mayer, who is particularly interested in people with object-oriented development experience. Also important is finding people from diverse backgrounds, with diverse ideas and perspectives, she says.
Hospitality giant Hyatt is transitioning from a reliance on third-party service providers and aims to bring more development talent in-house. "We're looking to hire people who embrace agility and speed to move ideas to prototype and production quickly," says Alex Zoghlin, Hyatt's global head of technology.
2. Help desk/technical support
• 37% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year's ranking: No. 3
Help desk/tech support remained near the top of the list, moving up from No. 3 last year. Melland says that's an encouraging sign for the economy and the overall hiring outlook. "Organizations mainly add help desk and tech support when they're adding workers and expanding their technology infrastructure," he says. Also contributing to demand for support technicians is the fact that many companies are bringing the help desk back in-house after outsourcing that function; that's partly a response to the proliferation of mobile devices and company-provided Web services. Because of the complexity of such setups, "it's important for support staff to really understand what the company is doing, which argues for having this function closer to home," Melland says.
After several years of running a lean support function, Wolverine Advanced Materials in Dearborn, Mich., plans to hire a few help desk staffers in response to business growth and a decision to provide ITIL-based service management, says James Bland, network manager at the automotive materials supplier. "There is growth in the company, so we're more confident in hiring," he says.
3. Networking
• 31% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year's ranking: No. 8
Demand for networking skills jumped to No. 3 from eighth place last year. This correlates with the results of a recent survey by IT hiring firm Robert Half Technology, in which 55% of the respondents named network administration as the skill set most in demand, along with database management.
The need for wireless connectivity is probably behind the interest in networking professionals, Melland says. "Demand for people with wireless networking experience is up 9% year over year," he says, and the unemployment rate for network and systems administrators is 1.1%.
Charles Whitby, lead network analyst at the Medical Center of Central Georgia, says growing use of wireless medical devices is definitely fueling his workload. In addition to the increased network traffic they produce, those devices require a lot of troubleshooting -- as is the case when, for example, their firmware needs upgrading but it hasn't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, he says.
Meanwhile, at Wolverine, Bland is looking to offload some networking responsibilities so he can concentrate on more strategic issues.
4. Mobile applications and device management
• 27% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year's ranking: No. 9
With mobile devices proliferating in both the corporate and consumer worlds, it's little wonder that mobile skills catapulted toward the top of the list, from No. 9 last year. And because of mobile's relatively new status, it's also not surprising that Computerworld survey respondents named mobile expertise the third most difficult skill to find, after development and BI/analytics skills.
Mobile app development is "a huge initiative" at PrimeLending in Dallas, says CIO Tim Elkins, and it will be a key hiring area next year. In addition to expanding its Salesforce.com development ranks, the mortgage provider hopes to hire two or three mobile developers, he says. PrimeLending's first mobile app is designed to enable its business partners -- real estate agents and builders -- to view loan statuses; its next one will be for consumers.
Elkins anticipates difficulty finding mobile developers and is therefore training a couple of current staffers to fill the need. "Salesforce.com developers are really tough to find because of the high demand, and so are mobile developers," he says.
Mobile expertise is also a priority for Hyatt, and Zoghlin says the company is trying to fill niche roles to ensure a consistent strategy across areas like mobility and user experience.
5. Project Management
• 25% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year's ranking: No. 2
While project management fell from its No. 2 position last year, it is considered a highly sought-after skill. Melland says that Dice has found demand for project managers to be second only to demand for software developers/engineers, having risen 11% from last year. That uptick, he says, is another positive sign for the economy as a whole, because it indicates that companies are willing to pursue strategic projects.
Mondo's Kirven attributes the demand for project managers to renewed interest in complex, strategic business-technology initiatives. "IT has historically been graded based on the success or failure of projects, so [companies are] making heavy investments in the business analyst/project manager layer," he says. "These people need to be able to talk to developers about technology and the right solution, but they also need to put on their business hat to gather requirements and prioritize needs and translate that into a programmable effort for IT."
6. Database Administration
• 24% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year's ranking: Not ranked
Database administration -- which didn't even make last year's list -- will be hot in 2014, likely because of interest in big data. Kirven concedes that the term big data is a catch-all for everything companies want to do with the burgeoning stockpiles of information they store on internal systems and, increasingly, collect from sources such as social media sites, the Web and third parties. Much of the interest in big data originates in marketing, which wants to learn as much about customers as possible.
"Oracle DBAs, data architects -- these people stay on the market for about an hour until they're hired," Kirven says. "People are looking for that person who can build a logical data map of their systems and aggregate relevant data so they can analyze and report on it."
DBAs with experience moving pieces of the IT infrastructure to the cloud will be highly sought after, says Melland, noting that demand for cloud skills is up 32% from last year.
To help kick off PrimeLending's big data initiative, Elkins says he is seeking systems analysts, developers and DBAs to integrate data from third parties, with the goal of easing the mortgage process. "Mortgages have been like a big black hole, with a lack of transparency and a lot of sitting and waiting," Elkins says. "Our focus in 2014 is to give consumers more control and an experience with mortgages that they've never had before."
7. Security Compliance/Governance
• 21% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year's ranking: No. 4
Security expertise seems to show up on every list of hot IT skills, and Melland says interest in cybersecurity will further drive demand, which is up 23% from last year. "It's one of those skills that falls into a lot of job types, like network engineering, software development and database architecture," he says. Respondents to a recent Robert Half Technology survey said security jobs are among the most challenging to fill, in addition to application development and database management positions.
With the increase in malware and cyberattacks, security has become a No. 1 priority for PrimeLending, which doubled its security staff this year, from four to eight people, Elkins says.
8. Business Intelligence/Analytics
• 18% of respondents said that they plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.
• Last year's ranking: No. 5
With the volume of global data predicted to expand by a factor of 44 from 2009 to 2020 and reach 35.2 zettabytes, according to IDC, companies are eager to gain a competitive edge by developing sophisticated analytics capabilities. Although BI/analytics is still considered a specialty and therefore has fewer postings than other job categories on Dice.com, Melland says it's the third fastest-growing skill area on the website, and demand is up 100% from last year. Analytics expertise is scarce, ranking second among the most difficult skills to find in the Computerworld survey. Accordingly, these professionals command high salaries, often into the six figures, Melland says.
At Wolverine, management's demand for data-driven insights is growing, so Bland is looking for people with BI skills who are also familiar with the Plex Systems ERP application, which the company uses. "We would definitely like to get more information out of [our ERP] system, so someone with BI experience would be great," he says. "We'd like to provide more information in a more timely manner so the business can be more proactive." Hyatt, says Zoghlin, is similarly looking for people "who can make analytics usable and useful for customers and colleagues."
src :computerworld.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hewlett-Packard Slumps as Company Shift, Outlook Lead to ‘Lost Confidence’
HP President and CEO Leo Apotheker
attends the HP China Summit in Beijing.
Photographer: Imaginechina via AP
Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, California, dropped $5.91, or 20 percent, to $23.60 at 4 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange. The decline was the largest since October 19, 1987, the market crash known as Black Monday. The drop erased $16.2 billion from Hewlett-Packard’s market value since Aug. 17, the day before the company’s plans were made public.
Leo Apotheker cut sales forecasts for the third time since becoming CEO in November, citing tepid demand. He’s spinning off the personal computer unit, dropping a five-month-old plan to put the WebOS mobile software on devices and purchasing Autonomy Corp. for $10.3 billion. While aimed at helping adding higher- margin products, the shifts are costly and may be time consuming, said Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher & Co.
“People just lost confidence in the company,” said Marshall, who is based in San Francisco and has a “buy” rating on the stock. “People are realizing the financial model is in greater disarray than they previously thought.”
Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service said they may cut their credit ratings on Hewlett-Packard’s debt. S&P gives the company its A rating and Moody’s ranks it A2, both the sixth level of investment grade.
Investors may be concerned by the amount of time it will take to execute the changes, Marshall said. Evaluation of strategic options for the PC unit may take 12 to 18 months to complete, the company said.
‘Stretched Thin’
Hewlett-Packard yesterday also issued sales and profit forecasts for the current quarter that missed analysts’ estimates. It will have to execute the strategic changes as it competes against rivals such asInternational Business Machines Corp. (IBM), Oracle Corp. (ORCL)and Dell Inc. (DELL)
At least six analysts slashed their ratings for the stock. Deutsche Bank AG’s Christopher Whitmore lowered his rating to “sell” from “hold” and said the stock is worth $20. Needham & Co.’s Richard Kugele cut it to “underperform” from “buy.”
“We are worried that HPQ may be stretched thin trying to do too many things at the same time,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc., in a research note today. Wu, based in San Francisco, downgraded the shares to “neutral.”
Apotheker is pushing a sweeping overhaul of the company that hearkens back to his two-decade career at SAP AG. (SAP) With the plans announced yesterday, Apotheker, 57, aims to make good on pledges to expand in cloud computing and challenge Oracle and IBM in more profitable products aimed at corporations. Business software delivered a 19 percent operating margin last quarter, more than triple the amount for the PC unit to be jettisoned.
‘Repeatable Revenue’
The Autonomy purchase is Hewlett-Packard’s largest since the $13.2 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp. in 2008 and Apotheker’s biggest deal since becoming CEO. In February, he orchestrated the purchase of data-analysis company Vertica for an undisclosed price.
Hewlett-Packard also said it’s discontinuing products that run WebOS software, which it acquired last year in the $1.2 billion purchase of Palm Inc. The operating system, which powers smartphones and tablet computers, fell short of “internal milestones and financial targets,” Hewlett-Packard said yesterday.
With the shift, Hewlett-Packard “separates out a lower- return business from a higher-return business, and you’ll end up with one that is a better business long-term,” said Don Yacktman, founder of Yacktman Asset Management Co. in Austin, Texas, which oversees $11 billion and holds Hewlett-Packard shares. “Software is a more repeatable revenue stream.”
Apotheker’s Record
Apotheker, who hails from Germany and speaks five languages, rose through SAP’s sales and marketing operations, becoming sole CEO in 2009. He was ousted from Walldorf, Germany- based SAP, the top maker of business-management software, in February 2010.
His tenure as CEO was blemished by an attempted price increase during the recession that rankled consumers and by a clash with German unions on plans to cut jobs. He resigned after presiding over the company’s first revenue decline since 2003 as customers delayed software purchases.
He joined Hewlett-Packard after Mark Hurd departed as CEO amid a scandal over a personal relationship with a company contractor. Hurd now is a co-president at Oracle.
As he assumed control of Hewlett-Packard, the company faced slowing revenue growth and increasing competition in cloud computing, the delivery of software and storage over the Internet.
Software Expansion
Apotheker vowed to buy more companies with software expertise, improve product quality and boost spending on research and development.
While Apotheker is following up on his software pledge, he’s backtracking on efforts to make the WebOS operating system a viable competitor to Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG)
WebOS has been suffering, Hewlett-Packard said yesterday. The business had an operating loss of $332 million in the fiscal third quarter on sales of $266 million, chief financial officer Cathie Lesjak said on a conference call. Losses would have widened if the business continued, she said.
“We have better ways to use that capital,” than trying to revive WebOS, Apotheker said in an interview yesterday. “Sales of HP TouchPads were not meeting my expectations.”
In the PC business, competitors’ tablets have cut into sales and consumers are changing how they compute, Apotheker added. “We want to sharpen the focus of HP.”
Apotheker is exiting WebOS products just a month after the company named Palm’s former CEO Jon Rubinstein to head of product development and innovation for the personal systems group, which includes PCs, tablets and smartphones.
Apotheker said in March that all of the company’s PCs will feature WebOS, a shift away from machines that only run Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s Windows operating system.
“He’s decided he just can’t win that war,” said Maribel Lopez, founder of Lopez Research in San Francisco. “If he’s not going to be in devices on the PC side, it makes no sense to be in devices on the phone side.”
No comments:
Post a Comment