Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/886554
14 | THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL www.datacenterjournal.com TECHNOLOGY TRANSITION A s employee roles merge, yielding jobs that com- bine IT functions with core-business functions, the task of quantifying salary, hiring and so on becomes more difficult. Yet under certain assump- tions, it's still possible to characterize IT employment and how companies are faring. According to Jason Hayman, Mar- ket Research Manager at talent-man- agement firm TEKsystems, "Overall, companies are hiring more IT staff, but the big change is who in the organiza- tion is hiring. IT spending continues to be decentralized. Essentially, the ubiquitous nature of IT has driven its decentralization; functions outside of the traditional IT department have IT budgets and are hiring their own IT talent." at decentralization can also lead to the abovementioned blending of roles. Hayman adds that "companies want candidates who bring more to the table than just the technical qualifica- tions listed on their resume. Although a technically sound cloud architect won't have trouble finding a job, companies really desire candidates with a strong set of so skills including business acu- men, project management, communi- cation and collaboration." Unsurprisingly, a main driver of the employment picture is the transi- tion to the cloud. Hayman identifies data analytics, automation and—under- lying everything—security as crucial factors as well. is transition creates some turmoil for both employees and employers as both try to determine which skills are most needed. EMPLOYMENT IN THE REVOLUTION Major changes in the technology landscape can make the employment market difficult to characterize, but standard metrics still provide some in- sight. An initial data point is, naturally, the budget. Companies that allocate more money to a particular department will have greater leeway to increase hir- ing in that department. Hayman says that according to TEKsystems data, 88% of IT leaders plan to either main- tain or increase their budgets in 2017. "According to our Annual IT Forecast, 49% of IT leaders expected an increase in their budgets for that year, and 39% reported their budget would stay the same." He adds, however, that other departments in some companies may be increasing their technology spend- ing. Here, again, the cloud revolution blurs the distinctions between different parts of a company when it comes to technology spending. e next question, then, is how much hiring is taking place. According to the TEKsystems survey data, nearly all IT leaders (92% of respondents) ex- pect to maintain or increase their full- time staff. Also, 87% expect to increase their contingent IT staff. Breaking those numbers down shows that sentiment splits almost evenly between those that expect to maintain their current staff- ing and those that expect to increase it: 47% and 45%, respectively, for full-time IT staff, and 44% and 43%, respectively, for contingent IT staff. Again, however, as companies look more for people with a mix of skills—not just technical ones—the hiring picture becomes more difficult to interpret. Another complicating factor is the changing profile of skills that are in demand. Shiing technologies create a number of pressures on both employ- ees and employers. For example, as a particular set of skills becomes obsolete or simply less in demand, employees in those areas will need to work extra hard to develop new skills, and some will simply drop out of the industry as a result. On the other hand, particu- larly when technology changes quickly, the number of skilled individuals with newly in-demand skills will tend to be low, leading to a shortage in that area. "On the supply side we just haven't been able to fill the demand funnel with enough IT talent," said Hayman. "e number of computer-science degrees conferred over the last couple of decades has been uneven, hampering a steady supply of IT talent. ere was a steady increase in the years leading up to and preceding the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s, but then the bottom fell out, with the number of computer-sci- ence degrees falling 36% between 2004 and 2008. e number has steadily increased since 2008, but demand still far outpaces any increase in the supply." Yet still, it's more than just computer- science degrees per se; it's computer- science degrees with at least two extras: one is the right focus on new technolo- gies, and the other is business skills that supplement the technical ones. "Organizations oen want experienced IT talent with strong business acumen, making it difficult for new graduates to get hired," Hayman added. "Although they might possess some of the skills and knowledge, they lack the experi- ence or business acumen, which can lead to lack of opportunities may lead them to pursue other careers." One metric indicating the level of demand for talent is unemployment. Unemployment is never zero, in part because of people changing jobs or careers and similar situations. But a very low unemployment rate indicates relatively low supply. "e need and demand for technology professionals in every department of an organiza- tion will remain high, and the amount of talent available will remain scarce. ere are simply many more jobs than there are qualified individuals to fill them. e unemployment rate is hovering around 2% in IT, and as more and more companies go through digital transformation and want to be on the leading edge of the technologies they use, that number will remain steady." For comparison, the headline civilian unemployment number for the entire U.S. has hovered around 4.5% for all