Salaries within the Infrastructure space continue to be stable rather than spectacular. Nervousness surrounding economic conditions in Europe is tempered by China’s continued rise to prominence and our own resources boom, creating somewhat of an impasse in permanent salaries especially. Contract rates are more open to fluctuation and are increasingly influenced by client and industry sector.

In contrast to the Applications market we are seeing an increasingly popular trend of on-shoring/insourcing of local customer facing IT support functions. Subsequently and more-so in a contract context this is somewhat inflating rates at the lower end of the market as companies scramble for the limited number of available talent. It will be no surprise to see that as a consequence of this lower end elevation there may well be some fluctuation in rates in the coming 12 months at the higher echelons.

The expected redefinition of rates is due to the take-off of large scale projects, the most prominent of which being the National Broadband Network, has not so far come to prominence. There was a fear that this would destabilise the permanent and contracting arenas with gross over-payments however at this stage there has been a collective sigh of relief that no further strain is being put on already tight budgetary constraints.

As has been the case for the last number of years, the moves to virtualisation and the cloud will continue apace. Certain trends to watch out for will be wider scale and next steps of virtualisation (of everything – desktop/network/apps/servers/storage) and further diversification into fabric computing, the concept having been muted for a few years now. ITIL and Process Management will continue to evolve and an increasingly hot topic and focus will be the management of the unprecedented growth in data storage.

Employers are increasingly looking for more value from their existing and potential employees – the term coined some years back being “T-shaped staff.” Specialisation will continue to be sought at the highest, niche levels however the preferred modus operandi will be for Infrastructure staff in particular to diversify their skill sets and thus increase their operational value.

What Next?

I expect that salary wise 2012 will be shrouded in an air of uncertain expectation, in so much as a change is expected but nobody is quite sure as yet what form it will take. If global economic conditions worsen then we may see a return to less projects, higher unemployment and lower salary levels however if we are again fortunate as a nation and get shielded from any impending doom then we could well see rates stabilise and potentially increase as investment in the sector grows.

Your Comments

Do you agree with my comments or want to offer a different perspective to salaries and/or trends in IT Infrastructure? If so please feel free to add your comments here or email me directly at neil.linz@ambition.com.au

Infrastructure support is an interesting area in the market place right now. As the common market entry point for recent IT graduates, it can present some very frustrating challenges. Typically a candidate is stuck in a catch twenty-two; “I need an entry level position because I don’t have experience, but…all the jobs require at least 6-18 months experience. How can I get experience if no one will give me a chance?” The answer, you need to understand the market.

You have two options to enter the market;

1) Apply to companies that are considered training grounds in the industry

These companies typically have lower requirements than working for the internal IT staff of a large ASX-listed company. In addition to this, they hire year-round and often take people on straight out of TAFE or Uni, with the easiest job to secure being a customer support or call centre type role. The key to making the right career choice here is, choosing a position in companies that are either IT companies themselves or have room for you to move into the IT support side of the business. Working 12 months with one of these companies will give you the experience you need for other opportunities and also give you the right kind of customer service training required for a Service Desk position.

2) Look for a company that is willing to train and mould you to their way of operating

These companies can come in all different shapes, sizes and industries. The key thing they are looking for here is; drive, ambition (but not too much), aptitude, the right attitude, clear and professional communication, proper understanding of what good customer service is and obviously a demonstrated commitment to a career in IT. All of which can be quite difficult to portray in your CV, nevertheless, a poorly constructed or laid out CV can see you overlooked during the application process. Likewise, using language that oversells what you have done in the past can make you come across as arrogant and unwilling to learn/be trained, which goes back to having the right attitude.

Making a career move

So let’s assume you’ve had a job for a while, but now you have thought to yourself; “I’m not getting where I want to be with this company” or “It’s time for a change of scenery” or “My friend just got a job paying $10k more per year than me and he has less experience”. Here is where it can get tricky. You are about to try and move companies, but you only understand the market from your perception. This is where speaking with recruiters really comes to your advantage.
A good recruiter will be able to help you with the following:

• Show you how you need to have your CV in order to put you forward in the best light possible
• Explain how the market is at the moment with regards to the availability of jobs
• Explain the different types of jobs you have a good chance of getting at this point in your career based on what is available
• Inform you of what the market is paying for someone with your experience and qualifications
• Illustrate areas of your interview where you were not strong and required improvement

In order to make the right choice, it is very important you are flexible on certain things. Moving jobs for $5k extra per annum doesn’t make any sense if the company you move to has no room for you to develop. Understand that the market hires people at certain skill points sometimes, and different skill points at others.

If you are getting paid $70k P/A with one company as a Senior Desktop Analyst and want to move into a Junior System Administrator or System Engineer role, chances are you won’t have the experience required yet to move straight into that role in one jump. Understand that to get that role, it is often better to find a company that has people in that space already and has plenty of market activity. Applying for a Desktop role in a company where the salary may only be presently paying $60k, demonstrates that your motives are not purely financial. Rather, you are a careful and thought out individual who takes into account all the factors in a given situation, this will certainly come through during the interview process.

So when trying to enter the market or change jobs, take everything into account, figure out what is really important to you, what the real reasons for moving are, and seek the advice of a professional recruiter, one that gives unbiased advice, constructive feedback, and actually tells you how you are likely to stake up in the market place so that you can see the process from both sides of the coin and make the best possible decision.

If you need any assistance in this area please contact me on the details below:

Simon Ogilvie-Lee
Consultant – Infrastructure Team

Simon.Ogilvie-Lee@ambition.com.au
02 9248 6254

For as long as they have both been around, the Linux versus Windows argument has raged on amongst their respective loyal subjects. On the surface, Windows is more widely adopted, is the standard business environment operating system, is more end-user friendly, and has more commercially developed programs supported than Linux. Linux on the other hand, is being adopted exponentially faster, is free to download, use, distribute and modify as needed, has an open source version (albeit not always up to the same capability) of just about every commercially developed program a windows environment can offer, and because of its design, is not susceptible to viruses or spyware.

Whilst there are literally thousands of Linux distributions (or Distros) available, there are only a few major players, with most others being variations of these, namely; Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, & Debian. In recent years however, one of these has been specifically edging out in front as a contender against its Windows rivals, Canonical’s Ubuntu. With major releases every April & October, the last three years has seen it improve not only in the traditional points, but also one of the primary measures of comparison between OSes, User Friendliness. Some dramatical changes were made to its internal workings with the release of Ubuntu 10.04 (which were further refined in version 10.10), resulting in Ubuntu finally going head to head with Windows 7, not only on speed with its 30 second average boot and 5 second shutdown times, but also usability and design.

Now personally, I am an avid Ubuntu supporter, and have been since the release of version 9.04, so much so that when the Alpha 2 is released for testing just weeks after an official release, I’ll gladly suffer through crashes and missing functionality just so I can have a taste of the next release. So for many months I suffered through testing phases of Ubuntu 11.04, first Alpha 2, and then the following Beta releases. Finally, on April 28th, 2011, I did my final upgrade. WOW! What a radical change!

Never have there been so many structure system design changes in a new release. Having previously not been impressed with Unity as a desktop manager, I found my transition and adaptation to the new desktop surprisingly quick. It wasn’t until a few weeks passed when I noticed errors occurring that should have been sorted before the final release, things like the sound cutting out randomly when playing movies or Skype not liking ANYTHING else to happen while a call is in place. So after weeks of updates, and still experiencing these painfully annoying issues, I found myself downloading Ubuntu 10.10. And whilst I now have a more stable system, I do miss many of the new features I no longer get to use, like the meta key opening a system-wide live search function, finding both programs & files within a few short keystrokes.

So I leave you with these questions; when was the last time you downgraded your OS? (Shortly after Vista came out?) And, are you one of those people who not only wants, but NEEDS to experience the newest version of whatever technology you use? If so, what was your latest must have experience?

Contactors have been part of the IT landscape since the early 1980s. Large project teams were formed to rewrite or convert manual paper based legacy systems and processes to computerised/automated processes. Contractors came into their own as a highly skilled, mobile workforce whose expertise could be used for the duration of the project and then let go when no longer needed.

Despite their long history in our workforce landscape myths still abound around the perceived disadvantages of contracting.

MYTH 1.  YOUR SKILLS WILL BECOME OUTDATED

This is a common fear that, over time and without training, your skills will become redundant and it will be hard to find work. This can be a problem not only for contractors but also permanent employees who don’t invest time inself-training. You do need to work hard at keeping your skills updated and there are many courses and training materials out there to help you do it.

MYTH 2.  YOU GET ALL THE BORING WORK TO DO

There are contracts out there to do the donkey work no one else wants but there is nothing forcing you to take these types of contract. A lot of contract requirements are project based using new technologies, new designs that will certainly keep the grey matter ticking over.

MYTH 3.  YOU DO NOT GET BENEFITS such as sick pay, holiday pay.

This is certainly true and usually there is no “overtime” for weekend work. However these benefits are built into the increased daily rate a contractor receives over permanent staff and more than compensate for this.

MYTH 4. IT’S A HASSLE TO SET UP A COMPANY AND DO ALL THE ACCOUNTS

Yes it can be and will require the services of an accountant. However a company structure is not the only way to go contracting. You can also join a management company or simply go PAYG with the agency covering you for all your insurances and deduct tax and super for you.

If you’re thinking about going contracting but not sure what’s involved why not call for a confidential chat?

As the years go on and technology continues to improve, more focus is going into implementing different technology devices into the education system. In 2005 Parsad and Jones did a study that showed in the year 2005, 99% of schools with computers had access to the internet versus 35% of schools in 1994.

Over the last 10 years, government officials have started emphasising the importance of creating a technology-rich school environment. Recent studies have shown that children who have learning assistance from technology based tools are receiving higher test scores, making significantly higher academic achievements, and have higher performance scores across all subjects.

The Information and Communication Technology Literacy Group believes that the use of technology improves students’ abilities to communicate, analyse and interpret data, prioritise tasks, understand conceptual modeling, and engage in problem solving.  These are critical areas for a student as well as for people in the work place. Someone who has strong skills in the above areas is much more likely to be successful in a business environment.

The article I recently read suggested that basic computer systems, tools and applications that we take for granted like Microsoft word, Microsoft excel, powerpoint, email, internet etc. are all increasing our communication and analytical skills. If this is the case, are people who are exposed to technology at a younger age predestined to do better in school, develop better communicative and analytical skills, and thus be more successful in their job?

Is it appropriate to attribute the development of these skills purely to technology? If this is the case, will there eventually be a need for teachers, classrooms, and schools or are computers and the internet going to become the global education system?

In the office my colleagues call me the Christmas Grinch, Bah Humbug and The Scrooge so to make sure I live up to my reputation I will not mention a thing about that C word!

The Year 2010 in Review

January 2010 – This was a crazy period of time for me, recruiting in the infrastructure space during January was like opening the flood gates. Budget had finally been allocated for extra head count after the GFC and managers didn’t hold back. They wanted to make sure they gave some relief to their teams before upper management changed their minds. This is traditionally the quietest month of recruitment in the year but definitely not for me in 2010. This was a good sign of things to come for 2010.

February > May 2010 – Things incrementally picked up from here as more and more uncertainty was waivered and good financial results gave companies across various sectors more budget for both permanent and contract positions. Although there were additional requirements and companies were performing well there was still the hangover of the recent GFC on everyone’s minds and threats of a double dip recession kept salaries and over hiring down. Overall, steady increases in hiring and vacancies for Infrastructure professionals continued throughout the first two quarters of 2010.

June > August 2010 – The Infrastructure recruitment market plateau happened during these months but projects started to kickoff and the business information team were very busy throughout these months employing PM’s, Business Analysts and various project leads / designers. This would impact the infrastructure market later on down the track in 2010 and 2011. Throughout the year to date companies had been cautious not over doing salary increases and were being very selective with who they brought on board to their teams. With the steady increases in staff hires throughout the year the first signs of real skilled staff shortages started to peep through the cracks and recruiters were starting to find it harder to deliver on client requirements. Honest and Smart Recruitment Consultants indicated these changes in the job market and set realistic expectations with their clients.

October > December 2010 – Things really ramped up, the GFC was now deep in the back of the minds of everyone, business confidence hit three year peaks, company financial results remained strong and Australia had its largest ever increase of new fulltime roles in a calendar year (across all industries). There was a healthy statistic of 40% more vacancies open in November/December 2010 than 2009. Companies turned to permanent recruitment over contract generally speaking and due to candidate shortages a large percentage of my clients increased salaries to attract the right candidates to their vacant positions. This quarter has been the real start of the candidate short market, salary increases and staff retention incentives. Cloud computing has been the real buzz word in the IT industry throughout the year and this quarter I have been to no less than 5 seminars on it, it definitely has a large push going on right now.

The year 2011 - What to expect for the IT infrastructure job market?

My prediction if no unexpected market disturbances occur is a continued increase of staffing demands across IT Infrastructure resulting in extensive candidate shortages by the end of 2011 and rate increases reminiscing of 2007. Although we are starting to head to candidate shortages and the NBN will contribute to this I don’t believe it will get to the levels of 2007. I believe this will be offset by current trends in the IT Infrastructure market of outsourcing, off shoring and cloud computing. These all seem to be happening at an increasing rate but I still believe organic growth will keep infrastructure specialist needs in Australia incrementally high.

I have heard of a number of infrastructure managers showing real concern of the effect cloud computing could have on their team and individual careers. Personally I don’t think they have too much to worry about as when a new technology is supposed to save man power, requirements generally in the past have actually increased in other areas of IT. All new roles are produced and people slide their careers in those directions. Also companies absorb new technology at differing rates so there will always be a need for an abundance of skilled infrastructure specialists for our generation.

2011 will be a year to cement your career in a role that is future proof and rewarding you financially well for the skills you have developed. Let’s hope I am right and 2011 can be a great win year for most like 2010 was.

These are my individual opinions formed through experiences and conversations throughout 2010. Does anyone have anything to add or challenge?

Whilst attending the FST (Financial Services in Technology) event last Friday, I listened to Greg McAweeney, the GM of RaboDirect, speaking about using Social Media to enhance customers experience.  Rabobank Direct is a specialist online-only savings and investment bank and the only bank that publishes a blog on its website.  They feel this demonstrates their openness and transparency and I was surprised to learn they are not afraid to showcase the good and the bad on their site for all to see.  The brainwave idea is that we must relinquish control, as Greg says, we never had it anyway!  We must embrace the opportunity to show ourselves “warts and all” to redress some of the crowning issues that have recently dogged the banking industry and, on reflection are the same complaints that have, over the years, been leveraged against the recruitment sector.  The banking industry has taken a hammering post GFC with little trust and much anger from the general public, as with the recruitment industry key concerns predominately focus around openness, transparency and honesty.

With many unscrupulous and unethical agents and agencies around it is my experience that consultants with an honest, ethical and assiduous approach will always shine out from the pack.  In addition using social media is a fantastic way to create communities and become a “trusted advisor”, a specialist in your chosen field and with something of more value to give than your average “common or garden” variety recruiter.  It is a wonderful opportunity to create an open forum for feedback and ultimately lead to innovation as posts both positive and negative can be analysed and addressed.

Obviously you need to have a clear policy around your social media strategy and to ensure staff members are trained and contribute to the development of it. More and more companies are implementing social media guidelines for their staff which outline how they are expected to behave when representing the company, with social media becoming mainstream these guidelines around their use are essential.  There are many celebrated cases of staff who have uploaded damaging videos online which go viral and can cause huge reputational damage.

In a recent interview conducted by FST, Greg McAweeney, General Manager, RaboDirect Australia commented that it is important to ensure your organisation has a clear social media strategy. Rather than just jumping in because you feel you ‘need to be doing something’ which is probably the wrong approach.  A coherent strategy which outlines your objectives, the implementation plan, resourcing needs and reporting tools will put some structure around your social media activities.

Ambition Technology is keen to create a strong interactive presence on our website (blogs, podcasts, Twitter, Facebook and a newsletter).  We feel it is important to be active in the social media space so we can provide relevant and interesting information for our clients and candidates alike and we can interact with them in channels they prefer to use.

Business and Social Media – Your Thoughts??

The hottest topic in IT at the moment is undoubtedly Cloud Computing. It received a lot of attention at last week’s vForum and is due to be one of the areas of focus at this week’s FST event. However, being a recruiter specialising in the IT Infrastructure space, I am very keen to find out how the move towards cloud computing could impact the size of IT departments and whether cloud arrangements with providers around the globe could mean a decrease in IT vacancies in Australia.

I have read a number of articles on this topic and opinion seems to be divided. In 2009, Richard Marcello, President of Technology, Consulting, and Integration Solutions at Unisys, speaking at the Cloud Computing Conference and Expo in Santa Clara, California, said that “We were able to eliminate a whole bunch of actually U.S.-based jobs and kind of replace them with two folks out of India to serve a 1,200-person engineering organization,”. Although this statement may be true, a number of industry writers and specialists have argued that although in-house IT jobs may decrease long-term, in the short-term the need for cloud computing specialists will increase numbers of staff required, and moving forward there will still be a requirement for IT staff in data centres, working for cloud providers and in-house managing the relationship between the two. In addition, other writers have said that although there have been advancements in technology in the past, this hasn’t led to mass redundancies and has often had the opposite effect.

What are your thoughts as an IT Professional? Is the emergence of this technology causing you to worry about your job security?

I can already feel the thoughts of apprehension from readers as they scan the title of this blog. DO NOT BE ALARMED! It will not be as provocative or suggestive as the title’s potential allows it to be.

When youngsters are asked what they want to be when they grow up… You are likely to hear aspirations of being a lawyer, glamorised in movies portraying unrealistic courtroom dramas… “You can’t handle the truth!” You are also more likely to hear about dreams of becoming a doctor, in the hope to one day emulate the drama that unfolds on ‘ER’ or ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’

Unfortunately, you are not likely to find a member of Generation Y fantasising about becoming a .Net programmer. IT jobs have not been romanticised in the media as a dramatic and exhilarating professions. This is in complete contrast to the slick-talking, supercilious lawyer who by day acts as an upholder of justice, and by night lives the playboy life of a movie-star. Moreover, you are unlikely to find television programmes with George Clooney, the handsome Old age pensioner, playing the part of a data analyst. Instead, you will find him working in a hospital struggling with his own personal complexities, maintaining a saucy relationship with a nurse, while at the same time saving patients seconds before they flat-line.

From an arguably exaggerated viewpoint, a decline in student’s participation in Information Technology studies could spell a nation’s (or world’s!) economic decline. This may seem quite radical, but it is no secret that students in the modern day class-room are becoming more and more disengaged with education as a result of social pressures and the entertainment media. Students are now tempted to follow career paths that seem more aesthetically pleasing instead of commercially practical pursuits, such as IT and computer science. This in turn, could lead a large portion of the next generation of professionals away from careers in business and industry. Is this an exaggeration? Or are we heading into a society which struggles to cope with the shortage of skilled individuals, and eventually a devastating halt to technological advancement.

Maybe it is time education gave something back to Technology. After all, IT has poured its heart and soul into education, especially subjects relating to different industries. Teachers are now armed with a vast array of software applications to make the subject matter more ‘interesting’ and accessible. Students are now able to access a massive bank of information from the internet to assist them with essays and assignments. I should personally thank Wikipedia for getting me through university… and I am sure I am not the only one. Students are able to interact with each other more freely with the ability to discuss ideas and transfer knowledge. Information Technology itself has created a solution to the suggested pandemic of technological illiteracy, by offering students a more engaging and accessible way to learn.

If all else fails, someone could produce a new television program, maybe…‘The Bold and the Business Analyst.’

2010 has so far been a year of recovery for the Australian economy. The vast majority of us have breathed a collective sigh of relief as the unemployment rate reduced with consumers and businesses sharing a more positive outlook on the market. Balance, however, is a difficult state to obtain and Australia is now faced with another challenge…

As businesses boost their ranks to meet increased consumer demands, the market of skilled-candidates is fast tightening. This is particularly true of the IT industry. September’s Clarius Skills Index, released this week, reported that there is currently a shortage of 2,800 IT professionals across Australia.

The effects of a labour-tight market are of obvious benefit to candidates with the decrease in supply artificially inflating prices. Candidates are thus able to demand a lot more in terms of salary package and hourly rate. This is something that companies are having to face, with many increasing their offerings by up to 30% to secure the right candidate.

The quick recovery of the economy, however, has left many companies spinning. There is a certain amount of uncertainty and distrust in the stability of the current market, especially as the European and US economies continue to struggle. As a result, many firms are reluctant to pay higher salaries for quality candidates, for fear of accumulating high fixed-costs.

In an attempt to circumvent this risk, organisations have resorted to growing their workforce through the employment of contractors. This can be considered to have a “band-aid effect” in terms of the firms’ perspective, as it is more efficient to terminate a contractor than retrench an employee. The problem here is that what is a solution to the employer is a deterrent to potential employees. When faced with a choice between a permanent opportunity and a contract position, most candidates will choose what they see as the most secure option, particularly given recent instability in the economy.

What does this all mean? In the coming months we can expect to see continuing increases in salary expectations from candidates, as they become a shrinking resource in the market. Companies will be forced to re-assess their strategies for attracting and retaining candidates, in order to remain competitive in their respective markets.

Employees are what provide firms’ with their distinctive competencies. Once a candidate is hired by one company, they are off the market. They are unique and inimitable. Is it worth the company increasing their pay packets?