Promising Job Market

Promising Job Market

Data management and administration continue to be strong employment sectors for insurance IT departments, but CIOs still struggle to find quality systems administrators.

Modest salary increases in the technology field are on tap for 2006, according to staffing solutions provider Robert Half Technology, as the job market for technologists brightens across the U.S. as well as across different industries and skill sets. Ryan Gilmore, a branch manager in the San Jose, Calif., office for Robert Half Technology, believes retention of key technology personnel will be an important issue for IT departments to address in the new year.

In its "2006 Salary Guide," the Half report states, "Technology executives are once again hiring–in many cases filling positions for the first time since the end of the dot-com boom."

In the area of administration, the report predicts CIO salaries will rise just 1.8 percent in 2006 from 2005 levels to salaries between $114,750 and $196,000. The top percentage increase in administrative positions will be for the post of chief security officer. Salaries for these posts are expected to rise 4.1 percent to between $95,250 and $138,750.

As for the skills CIOs are targeting, data and database administration remain important focuses for the insurance and financial services fields, says Gilmore. "The insurance industry is heavily dependent on data and has a need for IT individuals to help manage, mine, and safeguard that information, particularly in light of recent corporate governance regulations that mandate better internal controls," he explains.

The Half report sees salaries rising 2.6 percent for database managers in 2006 to an average of between $82,750 and $113,750. Database developers could see a hike of 4.3 percent to between $69,750 and $101,250.

Half placement experts anticipate a tremendous demand for Windows systems administrators and network engineers, Gilmore adds. "Those are two hot skill sets on the IT side," he says. "On the application side, we're seeing a demand again for Web development and application developers. There are some parallels with insurance. Network engineers come right to the forefront. In terms of being able to mine and manipulate the data, there obviously is going to be a need for database administrators, as well."

The report predicts some of the bigger raises will come in the networking area. Network architects could be in line for raises up to 4.1 percent to a national average of between $75,000 and $109,500.

While Windows administration re-mains a top priority, Gilmore comments companies also are seeking people who can distinguish themselves in the use of open source technology. "We're definitely seeing Red Hat Linux [administrators] being a sought-after skill set in the open source movement," he says, though he adds Windows remains firmly ahead of everything else. "Obviously, Windows is extremely prevalent and dominant, but Linux continues to show itself more and more as time goes on. We may have to sit back and watch for a while, but I expect [Linux] to continue being a sought-after skill set as companies have more control over what they're doing and become less reliant on Microsoft."

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has had a significant impact on technology departments in the areas of privacy and security, Gilmore indicates. "IT professionals need to assess information systems for vulnerabilities and consequently need to implement and manage procedures that contribute to achieving sound controls over their financial reporting," he notes.

As for hiring trends, Gilmore asserts business expansion continues to be the driving factor behind IT hiring. Citing a separate Half survey of CIOs, he relates 36 percent of those surveyed replied business expansion is the driving force.

For those IT people working on the West Coast, there are plenty of employment opportunities–the salary survey reports the strongest employment growth is forecast for the Pacific region with a net 18 percent increase. CIOs in the finance, insurance, and real estate sector project the strongest hiring in the fourth quarter. "The net 36 percent increase in those spaces is a 24 percentage point number above the national average," says Gilmore. "Insurance is definitely a hot industry for IT hiring."