The application development & support market has remained in a positive position throughout this year with only the upcoming holiday period stalling the slow but steady momentum. We have seen demand in the usual areas predominantly led by .Net & Java but we are seeing most demand and probably the shortest supply in tier one ERP skills (mainly SAP & Oracle), Microsoft SharePoint, Front End Web and Mobile Development. With that in mind the demand for contractors skilled in Agile development methodology continues to rise, as companies move away from large scale in house software development programs in favour of quicker rapid deployment of products and services. When companies do commit to large scale software programs they are looking to utilise a combination of in house resources, contractors, local specialist service providers as well as global outsourcers. This creates greater spread of risk on key deliverables, flexibility with resources but major challenges in vendor management, accountability, communication and ultimately decision making.
Companies are increasingly looking at consolidated ERP systems with Oracle and SAP taking a majority market share but we have also seen a number of companies committing more capital expenditure to JDE, PeopleSoft and Seibel upgrades as in most cases they offer a much more cost effective solution rather than the larger investment needed to implement Oracle or SAP. You will see from our salary review that SAP Basis & Oracle Database Administrators have experienced the largest rate & salary increases due to high demand and increasingly low supply. We have also seen a similar trend in demand for HR/Payroll consulting skills across most of the major ERP products. Due to the shortage of available skills in this area we have seen companies bringing resources from overseas to meet demand on critical projects. As with any technology skills shortage there has been a large push from candidates looking to enter the contracting market in order to take advantage of higher daily rates, this in turn has led to a large number of permanent positions being left open for 6-12 months.
What Next?
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With 2011 drawing to a close it’s now a great time to reflect on those early year predictions to see just how right or wrong we got it. There is often a sense of market strength or weakness that permeates business confidence way before the figures and analysis come about to prove or disprove.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) earlier this month cited wages as one reason why it cut interest rates by a quarter point to 4.25%, the first easing in over two years. This was supported by comments on the marked slowdown of employment growth where market caution has seen the jobless rate climb up to 5.2%, from a low of 4.9% back in April.
Already the predictions for 2012 are coming thick and fast with the usual swing of opinion; from optimistic growth on the back of sustained demand from China for our resources, to pessimistic claims of decreased consumer spending, a failing housing market and ongoing effects of the European economic financial crisis. Read more…
Recruitment Consultants spend a lot of time giving tips and advice to job seekers in an effort to best prepare them for interviews. The goal of course is to allow them to dazzle their interviewer and hopefully demonstrate why they are the best candidate for the job.
But what about the other side of the fence?
I’d like to pose the question, ‘What should a job seeker expect in return?’
This week a job seeker who we are working with was telephone interviewed by an internal recruiter and on consideration was given approximately six to eight minutes before the conversation was concluded. Now before we assume the candidate simply wasn’t suitably qualified for the role, I’d like to focus more on the three simple expectations that a candidate should have the right to, after being chosen to be interviewed.
- Time,
- Respect, and
- Feedback Read more…
The following article by Jennifer Forshew, discusses pay rising as demand for skilled staff grows. Read Ambition Technology’s Managing Director, Andy Cross’s comments below.
PROFESSIONALS with skills such as Silverlight, MVC or SharePoint are highly sought after, with experienced developer salaries peaking 10 to 20 per cent above the industry norm.
The latest Ambition Technology Market Trends report for Quarter Three, released today, found more experienced developer salaries had jumped above the average at about $120,000 to $135,000.
Read more…
Ok, so you have finished VCE and scored a higher enter score than most, your heart skips a beat spending endless hours writing code and you decide you want to be a programmer. What programming language do you wish to learn? Which will be better in terms of job prospects? What language would still be in high demand in 5, 10 or 15 years’ time?
In most cases, a language is chosen by development teams because they know it, feel it’s the most cutting edge technology on the market, or feel it would result in a cost effective method to implement in to their website.
Ideally, development teams should examine the strengths and weaknesses in using both technologies instead of going for whatever is hip in the marketplace.
Hopefully this comparison sheds some light as to what technology is best for you and your future as a programmer.
Current Demand
I did a quick search on seek and found that 1,645 results were found in Australia with the key word, “.NET”, and 4,061 results were found with, “JAVA”. What does this say about what’s happening in .NET? Should these figures be the contributing factor to what technology to use?
By no means should you consider this data as concrete evidence without considering other variables – like how much competition you have with other programmers in your field, how many roles are available in your area, and how many roles are available within your skill level (junior, mid-level or senior). You should conduct your own preliminary searches on different job boards before evaluating what career path you should take. Read more…
Interviews are still the most popular form of selection for most positions and often individuals that perform well at interview are selected ahead of those that are perhaps better qualified but who do not perform as well. Good interview technique is vital to securing the top jobs and like exam success it can be learned.
Here are 10 tips to improve your interview skills before, during and after the interview.
Before the Interview
By conducting thorough research you have a better chance of success as you identify issues and practise questions that are likely to be asked.
1) Research yourself, your skills and experience
At least half of the interview will be about you, particularly your skills, experiences and career goals. It’s therefore essential that you know everything there is to know about yourself and be able to answer any question confidently and concisely. You are likely to be probed about your profile and so you need to be able to describe and portray yourself in a positive and balanced manner. Review your career to date and understand your key skills and strengths, your reasons for making a move both now and previously as well thinking about your short and medium term career goals. Read more…
There are a few critical things you need to consider and understand before you make that move from permanent employment to contract…
Prioritise!
There are four key factors you need to consider before you proceed. Money, Technology, Projects and Location. What is most important to you? The chances are if you have genuinely set your heart on being a contractor money and technology will be top of the list.
- Money
Most of the time when you’re doing full time contract work you will have to spend just as much time trying to find that work. If your salary was $80k (roughly $40/hr) you have to think about taxes, driving, phone calls, buying software, IDEs, and lots of other expenses. General rule of thumb is to put a 30% mark up on your regular pay. Of course in this industry, you have to do what you have to do to get some work so don’t be too rigid with your negotiations and remember its easier to find your next assignment when you’re already working –creditability and current project work counts a lot for your marketability. Read more…
According to the Australian Bureau of statistics 80% of the 150,000 working in the IT Industry are classified as “young males”. On further review it turns out that most of them (and nearly all the ones that work on service desk) are under 32, which makes them what the researchers call “Generation Y”.
Gen Y’ers are those born after 1980. They currently make up about 28% of the population and are more educated that any generation before them (most of Gen Y’ers working have an under graduate degree, many have a Masters Degree). They are technologically savvy to the point where the technology is completely integrated into their social and business interactions. They are adaptable, innovative, efficient and resilient. But there is a dark side…
Nathan O’Donnell talks to Ambition about staff retention and why the focus should be on Gen Y.
Read more…
The first quarter of 2011 closed for many Australian Technology businesses with a solid, if not superb start to the year. The economy continues to build with positive momentum evidenced by a number of positive economic drivers.
Read more…
For many organisations taking personal references is a key stage of the recruitment process. In addition to personal reference checks organisations are also requesting background checks before offering candidates a position.
A background check can confirm that the details on a candidate’s resume around Qualifications and Employment dates are correct, where as a personal character reference normally asks for the opinion of someone who has normally worked with or managed the candidate.
Unlike a background check this is totally reliant on an individual’s personal perspective and therefore I believe lends itself to be seriously unreliable. Personal perception/prejudice about someone may result in references not reflecting the true performance of a candidate in a particular role.
We have all heard stories of someone getting a friend or family member to pose as an employer to conduct a reference, a previous manager taking it badly that a top performer is leaving the business or someone providing a great reference in the hope that a low performer leaves the business.
Organisations often conduct references at the end of the recruitment process, once they have already decided a person is right for the role and the business. With this in mind should we then change our perception of a candidates suitability based on the outcome of a reference?
Can we really rely on a good or bad reference to make good hiring decisions?
The application development & support market has remained in a positive position throughout this year with only the upcoming holiday period stalling the slow but steady momentum. We have seen demand in the usual areas predominantly led by .Net & Java but we are seeing most demand and probably the shortest supply in tier one ERP skills (mainly SAP & Oracle), Microsoft SharePoint, Front End Web and Mobile Development. With that in mind the demand for contractors skilled in Agile development methodology continues to rise, as companies move away from large scale in house software development programs in favour of quicker rapid deployment of products and services. When companies do commit to large scale software programs they are looking to utilise a combination of in house resources, contractors, local specialist service providers as well as global outsourcers. This creates greater spread of risk on key deliverables, flexibility with resources but major challenges in vendor management, accountability, communication and ultimately decision making.
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