The Brightwater
Information Technology Survey 2013
An Introduction At Brightwater, we believe that our expertise and knowledge is part of our service to you. As part of this service, we undertook a survey of IT professionals currently working in the sector to gauge the market and to find out what issues are particularly pertinent to the IT sector. The IT sector here is continuing to grow at a steady pace. There are extensive job opportunities across the IT industry but employers are finding that there is a scarcity of suitably qualified and experienced IT candidates in Ireland. If this situation continues, Irish software companies could be at risk of losing their global competitive edge. This, in part is one of the reasons why we undertook this survey. Thank you to all who participated in this survey; your input is much appreciated and I’m sure you’ll find the results extremely interesting. Hugh Mc Carthy Manager, IT Division
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The Brightwater Information Technology Survey 2013
Contents Survey Objectives
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Data Collection Process
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Demographics
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Survey Findings
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Conclusion
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About Brightwater IT
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The Brightwater Information Technology Survey 2013
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Survey Objectives The main objectives of this survey were:
T o gain an understanding of trends and developments, particularly in relation to employment, in the Irish technology sector To assess how the education system aligns with the needs of the local technology sector To gain an understanding of perceived challenges and areas of concern in the Irish technology sector To assess what motivates IT professionals To benchmark perceptions of salaries in the local IT community
Data Collection Process This report is based on a survey specifically issued to a carefully selected panel of local technology leaders and members of the IT development community. It was managed via Survey Monkey software during 2012. Any questions regarding the report should be directed to Hugh McCarthy, Manager of Brightwater’s IT division in Ireland.
Demographics The data in this report is based on the survey responses of a representative cross-section of the local IT community made up of Software Engineers, Business Process Analysts, Project Managers, Testing / QA Engineers, Software Architects, Technical Leads and Systems Administrators.
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The Brightwater Information Technology Survey 2013
Survey Findings Contract Roles While the IT market is extremely busy and there are plenty of opportunities, contract opportunities are on the rise. IT professionals seem much more amenable to contract work than other professions. The very nature of the work lends itself to contracts and the data collected very much reflected that.
Nearly 36% of respondents were currently working in contract roles while nearly 48% of those surveyed who were in permanent positions indicated that they would be open to looking at contracting opportunities. See Figure 1.
Figure 1 If you are currently in a permanent role, are you open to looking at contracting opportunities over the coming 12 months?
Don’t know
7%
Not interested
45%
Potentially interested
30%
Interested
18%
Over 53% of those in a permanent role who were not interested in contracting were at the 4-7 years’ level but those at the 1-2 years’ level of experience showed much more interest in contracting but given the level of their experience, there may not be sufficient opportunities for them. With contracting, employers expect their contract staff to hit the ground running and have the required expertise and knowledge. “This very much reflects the market at this time” says Hugh McCarthy, “we are finding
that IT graduates up to 3 years’ level of experience are keen to gain as much experience and exposure to new systems as possible. It’s only at the 4- 7 years’ level that they’re trying to consolidate their experience and gain in-depth expertise in their market. At the senior level, people will consider contracting again as a highly profitable way of working”. It is well known in certain areas, particularly in software engineering and software QA that rates have improved significantly in the last 18 months.
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Future of Contracting In terms of the future of contracting, contractors are much more positive about the future and over 58% of those surveyed strongly believe that the market
will improve while just under 8% of respondents felt that it would decline. See Figure 2.
Figure 2 As a contractor, how do you feel the contracting market will perform over the next 12 months? Will improve
58%
Will decline
8%
No change
34%
There is also a very positive outlook in the market about contract rates. Whilst just over 37% of those surveyed who were currently in contract roles felt that rates would remain static over the next 12 months, over 30% of respondents felt that rates would increase. Only 6% believed that rates would decrease. See Figure 3. Brightwater’s Salary Survey 2013 indicates
that rates in general have held steady. “We haven’t seen any downward movement in rates” says McCarthy, “on the contrary, we have seen rates improve in some areas including software development, primarily across the main development platforms and we have also noted significant increases across web development, mainly with PHP and Ruby on Rails developers .”
Figure 3 How do you see contract rates performing in your sector over the next 12 months? Static
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38%
Increasing
30
Decreasing
6%
Don’t know
26%
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Demand and Future Skills In terms of aligning university courses with employer requirements in order to increase the employability of IT graduates, there was a definite mood both amongst recent IT graduates and employers that more needs to be done. While 34% of
those surveyed felt that local universities have given IT graduates the skills and knowledge they require to secure a job, almost the same number firmly believed that they had not (see Figure 4).
Figure 4 Do you feel that local universities have given IT graduates the skills and knowledge they require to secure a job within IT? Yes
34%
No
33%
Don’t have a view
27%
Other
6%
The prevailing theme was that whilst there are plenty of graduate opportunities and plenty of graduates to fill those roles, the actual percentage of graduates with high-level programming skills is low. “There is a distinct disjoint in what is being taught and what is required in the real world” commented one respondent. Nearly 77% of those surveyed felt that universities really needed to have much
more understanding of what employers are looking for. (See Figure 5). “Improved practical skills and courses reflecting modern tech trends and software languages” was one suggestion whilst another employer recommended “more certifications with specific software languages and a better understanding of the competencies required”.
Figure 5 In which areas do you think that universities could improve in terms of the assistance they give to students to increase their employability prior to graduation?
More information on local IT companies
23%
More understanding of what employers are looking for in terms of their graduate intake
77%
Interview techniques from both technical & competency based perspective
38%
Better CV preparation guidelines
22%
Other
21%
*Please note that there were multiple answers permitted for this question
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Many of the employers surveyed felt that there was a technical core skill deficiency in many of the graduates that they are seeing. “Base skills, technologies and fundamental protocols are no longer seen as important” commented one worried
employer. Another concern was that while many of the universities provide good system administrators and coders, that there is simply not enough focus on maths and algorithms to produce serious software engineers. This is reflected in the market place where competition to recruit software developers with three to seven years’ experience is fierce. “Given that our technology sector is a core contributor to export led growth in the economy, this is a worrying situation” comments McCarthy, “we really believe that universities have to focus on what employers want and align their 3rd level courses with the present and future business requirements of the market”. However one respondent noted that their Masters course provided much more of a balanced view of the workplace and what employers would want than their undergraduate course. This ties into what Brightwater’s IT recruitment consultants are hearing from employers. “Masters courses tend to be very relevant and targeted, and the syllabus seems to be more flexible in order to accommodate market demand” McCarthy says, “it also helps that many of those studying Masters have gained practical experience already and the courses reflect that”.
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The Brightwater Information Technology Survey 2013
One common theme was that work experience / placements are vital for IT students in order to gain practical experience and to see how they can apply the theory in practice. It was interesting to note that out of the respondents, 100% of those at the 2-4 years’ experience level felt that universities could have done more to equip them for the realities of working in IT whilst over 70% of employers surveyed felt that graduates are coming out of university ill-prepared both in their attitude and in their core skills. McCarthy is a strong advocate of both summer internships and university work placements. “Gaining practical knowledge of business practices while you’re studying not only puts you ahead of the field when it comes to interviewing but also helps you manage that transition from an academic environment” he points out. One survey respondent went even further by suggesting a mandatory work placement programme within every degree course.
There was also a general consensus that students need to be better prepared in terms of both interview techniques and CV preparation. “This is becoming increasingly important” McCarthy says, “candidates who may have great skills just aren’t coming across well either on paper or in person. Interviews are no longer just about technical skills. Competency based interviews are very common these days and it is about how people adapt to companies and to particular business environments.”
Market Movement Our findings indicate that the IT market has performed relatively well in comparison to other sectors with some niche skills commanding higher salaries. Just over 20% of those surveyed felt that
salaries in the Irish IT sector have fallen in the last year whilst 22.8% believe that salary levels have increased. Nearly 40% feel that salaries have stayed static. (See Figure 6)
Figure 6 What is your current view towards salaries within the Irish IT sector?
Have decreased in the last year
20%
Have stayed static in the last year
39%
Have increased in the last year
23%
Don’t have a view
15%
Other
3%
Many respondents felt that salaries fell in certain IT areas but that they increased in areas such as development, business intelligence and systems administration. However systems administration salaries did come from a relatively low base given their substantial decline over the course of 2009 and 2010. This is reflected in Brightwater’s IT Salary Survey 2013 where we have witnessed a rise of between 5% and 10% for these in demand areas. Salaries for programme and project managers and business systems analysts have stayed relatively static although there are signs that candidates with
these skills coupled with strong data analysis and data management skills will see reasonable salary increments over the coming months given the emerging demand. The size of company also affected salary levels with many feeling that multinationals offered more job security and better salary prospects (see Figure 7) although the politics of a larger company versus the flexibility of a smaller company with the prospects of more challenging work also featured in their decision.
Figure 7 When seeking a new job, are you more interested in working for larger multinationals or smaller indigenous companies or start-ups? Multinationals
35%
Medium sized indigenous
18%
Start-Ups
7%
Don’t mind
25%
Other
15%
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Whilst the majority of respondents felt that multinationals offered “better job security, better perks and direct benefits”, some IT professionals strongly believed that smaller indigenous companies offered better flexibility and the option to take on more responsibility. Innovation potential, more variety of experience and clearer expectations were the main attractions listed for working with companies other than multinationals. However, salary and financial stability were the key attractions that multinationals were perceived as offering potential employees. “The attraction to candidates of start-ups given the current economic client and recent tough budgets is worryingly low” says McCarthy, “looking back over recent years, many start-ups that emerged in the Figure 8 Have you taken up a new role in IT in the last two years? Yes
59%
No
41%
Figure 9 Have you declined a job offer in the last three years? Yes
60%
No
40%
Figure 10 What was the reason you turned it down?
Salary not at the level anticipated
33%
Poor experience at interview
9%
Offer from another company
18%
Counteroffer from current employer
9%
Did not like the technology environment
5%
Negative perception of the company’s culture Other
19% 7%
*Please note that there were multiple answers permitted for this question
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00’s are flourishing and now offer significant employment within the ICT sector. We would hope that this figure is more positive in future surveys.” Whilst opportunities seem plentiful (nearly 60% of those surveyed had taken up a new position in the last year – see Figure 8 and an even higher number say they are open to a change), there still seems to be a disconnection between the expectations of both jobseeker and employer in terms of salary levels and packages. Just over 60% had turned down a job offer in the last three years (see Figure 9) with an astonishing 33% of those citing salary not being at the level they had anticipated as the main reason for declining the offer (see Figure 10).
Both multiple offers and counter offers are now coming back into play for certain areas within IT, most notably within software development and employers are becoming keener to retain their key staff. Nearly 20% of respondents said that they had more than one offer which is a very high statistic. “We’re seeing this time and time again” McCarthy comments, “the market has really improved and there is a distinct lack of candidates with particular niche skills so there is fierce competition both to recruit and retain these key candidates”. What’s also interesting to note is that nearly 20% of those surveyed said they had turned down an
offer due to a negative perception of the company’s culture. “This is something that employers have to work on” McCarthy says, “as a recruiter, we can help change those perceptions by allaying people’s fears about the company and role at the very start of the interview process but companies really need to be aware of their own brand awareness in the market and try to counteract that”. One respondent pointed out that companies don’t help themselves by being vague about their vacancies and even vaguer about career progression at a time when they need to be selling to the job seeker.
What motivates the technology community? The biggest motivating factor when looking to move jobs is the salary and benefits package (see Figure 11). Nearly 23% of those surveyed said that the most important factor is an improvement in their salaries / benefits. Nearly 21% cited a more challenging work environment as a motivating factor whilst 17% noted that
improved career progression opportunities would be a key decision concern. Interestingly the commute / location were the least of their worries giving credence to the theory that IT professionals are highly mobile or that home-working can form part of the benefits package.
Figure 11 When looking to move jobs, which are the most important motivating factors for you? An improvement in salary/benefits
23%
A more challenging work environment
21%
Improved career progression
17%
Unhappy with current employer
12%
Exposure to newer technologies
9%
An improved work/life balance
8%
Concerned about job security
5%
Commute / location
5%
*Please note that there were multiple answers permitted for this question The Brightwater Information Technology Survey 2013
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Salaries again featured prominently when asked what most important thing a new employer could offer (see Figure 12). Career progression and an innovative technology environment took equal billing of importance with 17% of respondents citing these as critical factors in the offer negotiation process. Notably a friendly work culture scored highly with one respondent saying that smart colleagues and the right culture were key
with another commenting that the most important factor is the team that they would be working with. “This certainly reflects what candidates are telling us” says McCarthy, “salary increases alone are rarely the reason for a move. It is usually a combination of factors such as career progression, exposure to new technologies and company culture”.
Figure 12 What is the most important thing a new employer can offer you? Salary / package
41%
A more senior position
17%
An innovative technology environment
17%
Friendly work culture
10%
Job security
5%
A better location
4%
Training
3%
Experienced colleagues
3%
*Please note that there were multiple answers permitted for this question
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The Brightwater Information Technology Survey 2013
When looking to attract new talent, employers and IT professionals with 10+ years’ experience prefer to use a recruitment company or to go by referrals. However, online job boards and company
websites seem to be popular methods of searching for jobs judging by the results of the survey. Using a combination of strategies again seems to be the key to finding a new position (see Figure 13).
Figure 13 When searching for a new position, what is your preferred method/s? Online job boards
40%
Word of mouth / referrals
26%
Company websites
24%
Engaging a recruitment company
24%
Social Media Print media advertising
5% 1%
*Please note that there were multiple answers permitted for this question
Surprisingly social media seems to be way down the list for IT professionals with only 5.1% of respondents citing this as their number one method of job searching. Searching for jobs through the traditional print media seems also to have lost its attraction but this could be because companies are finding press advertising prohibitively expensive and are turning to other avenues to recruit new staff. The main benefit of using a recruitment
company however was highlighted by one respondent who praised recruiters for giving full details on available roles and pointed out that a recurring problem with most companies is that the job description is vague, even at interview stage. Employers need to be more specific about vacancies and what is expected and recruiters need to encourage companies to articulate their requirements in better detail.
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Significant Emerging Trends and Skills When asked what IT professionals felt are the most significant emerging frameworks, methodologies, trends, tools or programming languages, quite a number cited cloud technology as a major focus. This seems to affect software development, infrastructure management and IT service management so is quite rightly increasingly appearing on the radars of IT professionals. Mobile applications frequently came up as an emerging technology. Ruby on Rails, Python, .Net, and C++ were also common themes. General core development skills with a mathematical mindset and the ability to approach development on a language agnostic level are vital for many companies actively recruiting at the moment. However there is a serious scarcity of candidates of this ilk. Agile has also emerged as a methodology in many companies. However there is also a dearth of candidates with genuine Agile experience. In terms of training, mobile app development skills was one area that IT professionals would like to gain experience in, as was Agile and Scrum. However surprisingly many stated that they would like to get further training in open source languages such as Python and Ruby but also core languages such as Java and C#. Perhaps given Ireland’s popularity as a centre for gaming development, quite a number cited Ruby, C++ and Python as areas where they want to improve. Virtualisation and Cloud also featured highly in a wish list of training courses along with the desire to obtain formal project management certifications. It was interesting to note
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that when asked what training events and courses IT professionals attended in the last year, a high percentage of those surveyed said that they either had not attended any event or they did on-line courses and webinars. Quite a few had recently completed MAs in some area of IT which was encouraging to see. Project management and Java workshops were also popular although one common gripe was that they had to take annual leave to attend courses that were self-funded. In what is an increasingly competitive market, surely it makes more sense for employers to provide either in-house training or pay for courses that can only benefit staff and therefore the company. McCarthy can see both sides of the argument, “we’re seeing clients pay for expensive courses only for the employee to leave for another job, often better paid because of the skills they’ve developed thanks to the course” he explains. “Some employers have a claw-back clause that allows them to recoup costs outlaid on their employees should they leave within a certain period of time while the bigger companies have mentor structures in place as well as a fairly comprehensive in-house training programme”. He goes on to point out that some companies, particularly the smaller ones, have already paid quite hefty salaries in certain niche areas in order to recruit their key employees and can’t afford to provide on-going training. “This is a major concern” he says, “in order to keep up with the fast pace that is synonymous with an IT environment and its constant developments, employees must be kept up to date with all new developments and also provided with
The Brightwater Information Technology Survey 2013
on-going training. We’re being told by our candidates that up-skilling is important to them and in turn, we’re advising employers that training should form part of the overall package being offered to both recruit and retain key members of staff”. In terms of what those IT professionals surveyed wanted to add to their skill sets in the coming months, quite a few mentioned that they wanted to gain certification in Prince II, PMI, ITIL and the Oracle Java accreditation. All featured quite prominently while some respondents admitted that to keep their current certifications current would be enough for them.Whether this is to do with employers not funding extra study or being unable time-wise to fit study in with current workloads is unclear but it is evident that IT is one sector in which professionals want to keep constantly updated. When asked what IT specific events or conferences they were planning to attend in the future, the majority mentioned the Dublin Web Summit, PMP events and PyCon Ireland. However, it was clear that there was a distinct lack of events happening in Ireland that would excite the local IT community other than the Dublin Web Summit. Some of those surveyed mentioned London events and training in the USA as goals for the coming year. Other respondents cited the lack of employer funding as the reason for not planning to attend any events which is again a concern that needs to be addressed by IT firms.
Conclusion “There are quite a number of important and positive messages coming through from this survey” says McCarthy, “the main message being that salaries, career progression, on-going training and exposure to new technologies are key to both recruiting and retaining staff. This highlights the need for employers to be very clear in their IT recruiting requirements as well as managing the perception of their own brand as a recruiter of choice in the marketplace.”
“Any concern about Ireland as an FDI destination is primarily driven by the resources available” McCarthy continues, “universities must align themselves with employers to support courses that are relevant, business focused and skills driven in order to produce graduates who can add value to their employers and have the key skills to handle the commercial realities of the market”.
About Brightwater IT Brightwater IT is part of the Brightwater Group, Ireland’s leading specialist recruitment group. We recruit IT professionals for a wide range of industries in Ireland and overseas. With our excellent reputation in the market, we attract highly experienced permanent and contract staff. Contract and permanent roles are diverse, ranging from customer facing roles to highly technical positions. Brightwater IT has been established in Ireland for over 15 years and in that time we have developed superb working relationships with a wide range of companies from SMes to large multinationals.
Our specialist teams include: ›› IT ›› Accountancy & Finance ›› Banking ›› Legal ›› Insurance ›› Human Resources ›› Engineering & Operations ›› Supply Chain & Logistics ›› Sales & Marketing ›› Executive ›› Interim ›› Temporary & Contract ›› International
Information can be found on our website at www.brightwater.ie and on the Brightwater Facebook page. To discuss the survey findings or any other queries you may have, please contact our team: T. 01 662 1000 E. Dublin@brightwater.ie
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36 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 | tel. +353 1 662 1000 | www.brightwater.ie