The new Robert Walters UK Jobs Index reveals that the job vacancies for IT professionals increased by 12% in the first quarter of 2017 when compared to the same time in the last year.
Developers and software engineers are particularly sought after, accounting for the 14% of total demand while the vacancies for IT managers made up by 4% of total number of the roles.
“The UK IT sector has enjoyed a strong steady growth over past several years and is largely resistant to slowdown in the hiring seen by other sectors in midst of economic and political uncertainty last year.”
“However, start of 2017 has nevertheless seen a significant increase in IT hiring, with the developers particularly sought after. The demand from startup firms in the fin-tech has played a major role in this, along with the large established companies investing heavily in the cyber security.”
“With many high-profile data breaches over past few years involving in the prominent companies, employers are now increasingly recognising the importance of having a robust cyber security function and are now prepared to invest in securing the top talent in this field.”
MID LEVEL IT MANAGERS
In addition to this need for IT professionals with some strong technical skills, employers are also increasingly recognising importance of the IT staff who can play a critical role in ensuring the IT policy integrated with other departments across their business.
Ahsan Iqbal continues:
“The IT professionals with strong technical proficiency are highly sought after by firms across a range of the industries, but the IT managers with effective communication and stakeholder management skills are in particularly high demand.”
“As effective cyber security policies become an increasingly high priority, the ability for IT teams to liaise with other areas of the business to develop effective strategies is becoming increasingly vital.”