* Microsoft .Net, WebSphere, voice over IP and Gigabit Ethernet among the highest paying non-certified skills
The value of certified and non-certified IT skills showed recovery in 2004, finally ending a prolonged period of steady decline for IT skills pay. A new study from Foote Partners shows that skills pay increased 1% to 4% last year, as compared to overall annual declines of 6% to 8% witnessed in 2003.
IT research firm Foote Partners conducted quarterly surveys of 46,000 IT workers in the U.S. and Europe throughout 2004 regarding 150 certified and non-certified IT skills. “At this time last year the skills pay numbers were terrible,” says David Foote, president and chief research officer of Foote Partners. “But one year later the pendulum has swung to the other side.”
Overall median pay for non-certified skills rose to 6.7% of base pay in 2004, following a nearly 8% decline in 2003. Skills that increased the most in value included messaging/groupware, networking/internetworking and applications development tools and languages. Microsoft .Net, WebSphere, voice over IP and Gigabit Ethernet were among the highest paying non-certified skills.
Overall median pay for certified skills increased to 7.9% of base pay, following a 5.6% decline in 2003. Networking, systems administration and engineering/network OS and applications development programming languages saw the largest gains. In particular, HP/Compaq Accredited Systems Engineer, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Linux Professional Institute Certification/Level 2 (LPIC 2) experienced good gains, among many others.
Foote attributes the turnaround in tech skills pay to many factors, including increased competition and concerns over retention; proliferation of jobs with stricter requirements for specialization; emerging hybrid jobs that blend IT and operations responsibilities; and government regulation.
He also identifies two factors that don’t immediately jump to mind as drivers of job creation: offshore outsourcing and a return of merger and acquisition activity. Foote notes that outsourcing spurs opportunities for multi-lingual, well-traveled IT workers with skills in specific technical skills and disciplines, global project management, collaborative work models and cultural integration.
And while consolidation usually results in some layoffs, “M&As create job growth in the IT services industry and opportunities for versatile IT workers with various blends of technical, business and soft skills that are highly prized in architecting, systems engineering and integration, security, project management and business technology,” he says.
For more information about the study, including a glimpse at which skills are cooling, go to https://www.footepartners.com/FPpressrelease_2004annualskills.pdf.
