A second CIO Insight survey for August focuses on the hiring outlook for 18 specific IT positions, and provides data on which IT jobs will see the largest and smallest hiring increases
This survey finds that this growing demand for new applications is leading to more hiring for IT professionals who can build them - but today, this requires business as well as technical know-how, a combination of skills IT executives expect will be difficult to find. Particularly in demand are professionals in project management, business-process redesign, business analysis and systems integration. One particularly telling survey response was this:
Answer:
21% Professionals who have superior technical skills and knowledge
The survey indicates that demand will be high for professionals in project management, business-process redesign, business analysis and systems integration. Interestingly, over half of executives surveyed anticipate that the number of female IT employees at their company will increase by 25 percent or more in the next five years. This, despite no indication from academics of increased female enrollment in programs leading to such careers. (Women represented fewer than 15 percent of people receiving bachelor's degrees in computer science and engineering in 2005 at major research universities in the United States and Canada, according to a Computing Research Association survey.) e-Week blogger Alan Alter conjectures that perhaps respondents expect more women to cross over to the IT field from other functions, as IT organizations seek people with strong business experience.