* The Dice Tech Appeal Index
A new study from online job site Dice shows that tech pros are satisfied in their careers and loyal to the field. A full 95% of respondents describe themselves as being somewhat or very satisfied in their current post, and 93% intend to stay in the field at least through the next six months.
The Dice Tech Appeal Index was 121, down only slightly from the previous study’s 124. The index is a measure a person’s inclination to recommend the IT field to others as opposed to another industry, and values over 100 indicate a stronger likelihood to recommend a technology career over other fields.
According to the study, 83% of tech pros would recommend technology careers to others. Outsourcing is not a big worry for some, as only 37% of those surveyed expressed concern about their job being outsourced to a foreign country.
That’s not to say that workers are satisfied with every aspect of IT. As you’ve no doubt heard before, IT leaders would be wise to shore up their staffers’ skill development. According to the Dice survey, 82% of tech pros cite the ability to keep their skills current as a strong area of concern. One-third described their companies’ performance in this area as “only fair” or “poor.”
“Customers often ask us what they can do to foster loyalty and reduce turnover among their technology teams,” says Scot Melland, CEO and president of Dice. “Employer-sponsored training and professional development programs are excellent ways to build the overall technical capability of an organization while addressing a key career issue among tech professionals. If the team members are able to stay current and grow within an organization, they have less reason to look elsewhere.”
Among the training being offered, 37% of respondents’ employers provide in-house training, 32% offer tuition reimbursement for college courses and 28% for professional courses. Just over a quarter offer time off to attend courses and 18% offer monetary rewards or promotions to employees who obtain new skills or update existing ones.
