IT Salary Survey 2009

It Will Get Harder to Terminate Employees if New Legislation Passes

The number of IT jobs in the U.S. counted by the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses declined in each of the last four months of 2008. The NACCB, which uses data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, said its tally of IT employment fell by 63,000 jobs from August to December - a reduction of nearly 2%.

As the economic news continues to get bleaker, budget and staffing cuts are a fact of life for many IT departments - resulting in postponed purchases, delayed projects, hiring freezes and layoffs. IT investments need to be targeted and focused on the core business and its bottom line.

The situation poses difficult leadership challenges for CIOs. CIOs need to focus on key IT initiatives so they can proceed as planned, because of a desire by many business executives to rely even more heavily on technology to help reduce corporate costs and boost revenues.

The recession is not good for IT per se, but CIO do have an opportunity to clean up the processes at facilities where things maybe were not as efficient as they could be.

In addition to the decline of IT jobs, another issue that has affected this industry and other businesses such as those centered on security like life insurance, among others. But in general, this economic problem is unpleasant for the whole of the business community.

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Janco released its 2009 Mid Year IT Salary Survey which shows that overall pay has declined for IT Professionals in the past 18 months. Janco also found that demand is down for IT Professionals. Project Managers are one of the few bright spots in the market, especially in large enterprises.

The one Project Manager type that has been impacted the most by the economy is Network Technical Services. That is the area where many enterprises (Mid-sized Enterprises in particular) have made cuts.

Janco Associates is just completing its 2009 Mid Year Salary Survey and found that the median salaries paid to IT Executives in large enterprises (over 500 million in sales or with more than 100 IT professionals) has fallen in the last 18 months.

The CEO of Janco, Victor Janulaitis said, "Over the last six quarters there has been a noticeable reduction in costs associated with senior level IT professionals in large enterprise. In New York alone there are over 200 IT executives that had earned well into the six figures that are now looking for work."

CIO's need to adjust staffing requirements to address the needs of 2010 versus 1990. Application achitecture has and is continuing to change.

1990 Applications	2010 Applications
Mainframe - Host Based	Web - Server Based
Designed to last	Designed to change
Tightly integrated	Open Architecture, modular
Application silos	Enterprise Mirrors
Code-oriented	Process-oriented
Rigid sequential development - SDM	Interactive and iterative development - SOA
Cost-centered	Business-oriented
Homogeneous	Heterogeneous

What are the signs that the CIOs job is at risk. Unfortunately, many CIOs have a hard time recognizing their own shortcomings. CIOs and IT managers should watch for these signs that could indicate that co-workers have a problem with them:

Internet and Information Technology Handiguide

The Internet and IT Job Description HandiGuide is a tool that every CIO and IT manager should have at their disposal. It defines some simple things that you can do to avoid employment-based lawsuits:

(Reuters) - Private business activity in Hong Kong stayed below growth levels for the 11th straight month in May, but the speed of contraction eased further as staff costs dropped sharply, a purchasing managers' survey showed on Monday.

Respondents widely commented that further falls in new business and an uncertain economic outlook were key factors that contributed to the latest decline, Markit Group Ltd, which compiles the monthly survey, said.

However, overall cost burdens faced by private companies also fell as job layoffs accelerated and staff costs marked their steepest drop since June 2003, the survey showed.

The Hong Kong purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 44.77 in May from 44.34 in April. A reading above 50 indicates growth in activity, while a figure below 50 signals deterioration.

The survey compares business conditions with a month earlier, based on data from Hong Kong companies across industries including manufacturing, services, retail and construction.

(Forbes) The cities that are growing in spite of the recession have: more business opportunities, better weather and more affordable housing. The top three areas according to the data are Raleigh, N.C., ranking first, which jumped 4.29% to nearly 1.9 million; Austin, Texas, which came in second, with a 3.77% increase to almost 1.7 million; and Charlotte, N.C., which moved up 3.36% to 1.7 million.

The in-migration that happened in the middle of this decade certainly had a lot to do with the housing boom. When that went bust, so did those crazy population balloons. But these particular places are still growing because instead of building an economy that relies heavily on one industry, most of the metro areas on Forbes' list serve as headquarters for a diverse range of companies.

For example, Austin's biggest employers include the University of Texas, Advanced Micro Devices and Dell. That wide range might have something to do with the area's relatively low January 2009 unemployment rate of 6.4%.

This is the opposite of what happened in true housing boom-and-bust towns like Las Vegas. In 2004, Las Vegas - a foreclosure mecca - saw a population increase of 4.6%, followed by 3.66% in 2005, 3.98% in 2006 and 3.22% in 2007. In 2008, that number fell to 2%.

Global IT service providers continue to be adversely impacted by the economy as BT Group plans to cut about 15,000 jobs. This news comes on top of 15,000 job cuts the company made during its fiscal year, which ended March 31. BT said that as part of its cost savings program, it had reduced full-time employees during the year by 5,000, while also reducing by around 10,000 the number of indirect employees working through agencies or third party contractors.

Further reductions of a similar level are planned this year according to BT. These moves by BT come as its profits and revenue slide due to the global economic downturn, and fierce competition.

Microsoft Corp. laid-off 3,000 workers additional workers in the US. This is second wave of a major reduction the company announced in January. In a memo to employees, CEO Steve Ballmer said more cuts are possible. In a letter to some employees Ballmer said, "As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor the impact of the economic downturn on the company and if necessary, take further actions on our cost structure, including additional job eliminations."

Janco Associates' predicts that if the new taxes on un-captured offshore revenues are enacted Microsoft will be forced to more of it operations outside of the US in order to maintain its competitive advantage in the software market. This would in turn mean ever-greater lay-offs in the US.

IT Salary Survey

IT Median Salaries January 2008 vs. June 2009