High-Tech Wages Are On the Upswing
The battle for attracting high-impact talent in tech-based industries is showing no signs of coming to a halt in the new year--it's expected to continue in 2007, leading to rising wages, according to market analysis from talent and outsourcing services provider Yoh, a unit of Day & Zimmermann. Particularly in the software development space, Yoh contends that there will be demand for Business Objects, Java, and MS developers, as well as SAS programmers. The firm also says that a steady stream of upgrades by ERP vendors and enhanced adoption of standardized enterprise SOA platforms are creating substantial demand for talent like Oracle and SAP consultants and experienced database administrators.
"The technology market continues to grow, which keeps pushing wages up," Jim Lanzalotto, vice president of strategy and marketing of Yoh, said in a written statement. Lanzalotto predicts 2007's annualized wage growth rate will be between 3 and 5 percent, with double-digit percent growth in areas such as certain ERP areas. "Hiring managers are continuing to look for specialized talent to help them keep up with maturing technology. For example, a candidate with .NET developer skills and pharmaceutical experience is far more engaging to a hiring manager than a candidate with the skills but not the market expertise or experience."
The firm's assessment also delves into what it found to be the top 10 most sought-after tech skills in some of the U.S.'s technology hubs. Here are some of those cities along with the top three skills in greatest demand and other list-making skills:
Atlanta: Java developer, MS developer, project manager
(others include Oracle DBA (fifth), systems administrator (seventh), SAP applications developer (ninth))
Boston: Business systems analyst, project manager, clinical research associate
(others include Web developer (fourth), CRM technical/functional consultant (sixth), network administrator (seventh), Web services administrator (eighth), database developer (ninth), systems administrator (tenth))
Charlotte: Java developer, MS developer, project manager
(others include: Oracle DBA (fifth), Unix developer (seventh), technology architect (eighth), PeopleSoft developer (ninth), business intelligence developer (tenth))
Cincinnati/Cleveland: SAP--functional/technical, Oracle--functional/technical, Oracle DBA
(others include SQL DBA (fourth), .NET developer (fifth), Java/J2EE developer (sixth), JDE developer (eighth), project manager (ninth), Business Objects developer (tenth))
Houston: .NET, C# developer, Java/J2EE architect and developer, SQL DBA
(others include: Oracle DBA (fourth), IT project manager (fifth), data warehouse architect (sixth), Oracle--functional/technical (seventh), SAP--functional/technical (eighth), JD Edwards One World Developer (ninth), Business Objects (tenth))
New Jersey: ERP consultant, CRM project manager, .NET developer
(others include business analyst (fourth), project manager (fifth), Unix system administrator (sixth), Oracle financial consultant (seventh), Oracle DBA (eighth), data warehouse architect (ninth))
Silicon Valley: firmware engineer, ASIC design engineer, embedded engineer
(others include SAP NetWeaver consultant (fourth), Java Engineer (sixth), business analyst (ninth))
Southern California: software engineer--applications development, software engineer--embedded systems, aerospace engineer
(others include: hardware engineer (fourth), quality engineer (sixth), software QA engineer (seventh), test engineer (eighth))
For companies searching for top tech talent, Lanzalotto suggests understanding your company's needs, which will give the organization a better idea of what it needs to do, and to establish an employer brand. For employees looking to boost their images as high-impact talent, Lanzalotto contends that those individuals must raise their profiles. "Become known in your marketplace, become known in your skills set," he says. "You don't want to overly self-promote yourself, but you want to let people know who you are and the role you can play."
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