IT Field Responds to Business Needs.

Current Areas of Growth

A May 2002 report from the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) confirms the stability of the IT field. ITAA President Harris N. Miller notes that, despite the industry slump in 2001, "the digital economy is here to stay." In the United States, the largest category of IT workers comprises software programmers and engineers. More than 2 million programmers and engineers constitute almost 21 percent of the total IT workforce.¹

Networking

In its May 2002 Hot Jobs Report, Robert Half Technology (RHT) reported that networking is experiencing the strongest growth in corporate IT departments in the United States. The development of wireless networks needed to support a growing mobile workforce and the implementation of new security measures to safeguard corporate data are two major contributors to this trend.

Workers with "skills in wireless LAN and firewall administration are highly marketable in the current environment," according to the RHT report.² Companies are looking for workers who have experience in security hardware and software and intrusion detection. Network administrators, security analysts, and network engineers are in the highest demand.

Support

User support jobs also are growing, according to the RHT report, with 15 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) rating this as their leading area of growth. While doing business over the Internet is not a new trend, organizations are relying increasingly on their Web sites to conduct business. The result is a greater need for internal and external user support. Workers in demand in this area include support analysts, technical administrators, and computer technicians.

However, the ITAA report found that, while companies are hiring user support workers, those same user support workers were the most likely IT professionals to be let go during 2001.

Internet and Intranet Development

Another high-growth IT employment area is Internet and intranet development. The continuing reliance on the Internet as a way to conduct business and the recent push to transition to Web-based services are feeding the growth. In the RHT report, 13 percent of CIOs rank this area as the biggest IT growth area for their firm. IT professionals with Extensible Markup Language (XML) and JavaScript skills are in particularly high demand. Web designers, Web programmers, and Web developers were listed as the workers most sought after in this area.

Security Job Growth Uncertain

In a recent Computerworld article, David Foote took an optimistic view of the security trend: "Beginning in late 2003, employers will be much more aggressively recruiting security professionals with the right combination of skills, knowledge, experience, and character….⁵ While technical security skills and network expertise will always be in demand, a red-hot market will explode for managers with a broad view of security and the ability to think strategically, adroitly navigate corporate politics, and create systems for entire organizations. And soon colleges will confer information-security degrees that blend information security, communications, and psychology."