Which IT skills are most in demand?

SAP, wireless networking, unified messaging skills rise in value

SAP skills are continuing their meteoric rise in value, but the latest research shows numerous other skills boosting the paychecks of IT workers.

Non-certified skills in unified messaging, wireless networking, PHP, XML, Oracle applications, business intelligence and network security all rose in value significantly during the first half of 2008, according to Foote Partners, a provider of invaluable research on IT career trends.

If you look at the past 12 months, skills in AJAX and storage-area networking can be added to the list of skills rising in value.

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SAP skills are continuing their meteoric rise in value, but the latest research shows numerous other skills boosting the paychecks of IT workers.

Non-certified skills in unified messaging, wireless networking, PHP, XML, Oracle applications, business intelligence and network security all rose in value significantly during the first half of 2008, according to Foote Partners, a provider of invaluable research on IT career trends.

If you look at the past 12 months, skills in AJAX and storage-area networking can be added to the list of skills rising in value.

“Spikes occur when the gap between demand and skills supply widens,” Foote writes. “There are two reasons why that can occur, and it is rarely skills supply declines that cause gap fluctuations – it’s surging demand.”

As usual, IT certifications are dropping in value, unfortunately for workers who have invested heavily in time-consuming courses and exams. Certification-related pay has dropped for eight straight quarters, but there are exceptions, particularly for security, networking, systems and database certifications.

Specific certifications that are rising in value include: ISC2’s Certified Information Systems Security Professional; ISACA’s Certified Information Security Manager; The Open Group’s IT Certified Architect; Planet3’s Certified Wireless Analysis Professional, Certified Wireless Network Administrator, and Certified Wireless Security Professional; Citrix’s Certified Integration Architect, and SAS’s Certified Advanced Programmer.

On the non-certified skills side, Foote Partners placed the most emphasis on SAP skills, and not for the first time. Several SAP skills grew in value by 25% to 30% in the last six months and by as much as 57% in the last year.

“Employers are feeling more pain than ever in their search for skilled and experienced SAP talent,” CEO and chief research officer David Foote says in his firm’s latest report. “It’s really a tough spot to be in right now, in particular for those deploying the SAP NetWeaver platform. If you’re looking for SAP Web application Server, Production Planning, Business Objects, Quality Management, Strategic Enterprise Management, Product Lifecycle Management, HCM, and MDM module and skills experience, you’re suddenly paying a lot more.”

Not all SAP workers are seeing their value rise, though. In fact, SAP mobile infrastructure skills lowered in value by 20% in the past six months, and SAP project systems skills dropped in value by nearly that much. These two skills experienced the highest drop in value over the past six months of any noncertified skills, ahead of Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes/Domino.

If you go back a full year, the noncertified skills that dropped in value the most are MySQL, Microsoft Exchange and SAP Payroll.

Foote’s survey tracks the skills pay premiums earned by 22,000 IT pros in the United States and Canada, and determines the value of 165 certifications and 166 noncertified skills.

Overall, the value of noncertified skills has increased 2.1% in the past six months, 4.6% in the last year, and 12.9% in the past two years.