Careers in Information

Technology

Dr. Ron McGaughey

Professor of Management Information Systems
University of Central Arkansas
 IT Job Market

Nationwide
The number of job openings for IT professionals
nationwide has increased by 42.4% from 2004 to
2006.

(SkillProof, 2006—for more information see www.skillproof.com)

 The Shortage

 US Department of Labor projections suggest that

“computer/math scientist'' jobs, which include
programming, will increase by 40%, from 2.5 million
in 2002 to 3.5 million in 2012. (source: Dept. of Labor Statistics)
 Colleges (important suppliers in this labor market)
are not keeping up with demand (employer demand
for graduates in Technology fields). A 2005 survey
of freshmen showed that just 1.1% planned to major
in computer science, down from 3.7% in 2000.
(source: Business Week Online)

 These jobs are not all going offshore--only 5% of the

“Technology” jobs have gone offshore. Currently in
the US, for every 9 jobs created here, one job goes
offshore.
(source: Business Week Online)
Average Number of Job Openings for IT Professionals
Nationwide, 2004 – 2007

250,000 223,300
(projected)

200,000
179,800
160,700
150,000
126,300

100,000

50,000

0
2004 2005 2006 2007

(SkillProof, 2007)
Growth of Job Openings by Category,
Nationwide, 2004 – 2007(projected)

IT Sales and Marketing 121.9%

Business/Process Design 106.3%
IT Management 77.7%
Software Development 75.5%
IT Architects/Consultants 65.9%
Systems Administration 56.6%
Systems Engineering / Support 59.4%

(SkillProof, 2007)
 Job Openings by Category,
Nationwide, 2006 and 2007
2006 2007
(projected)

Systems Engineering / Support 48,500 61,300

Software Development 37,000 46,100
IT Management 26,100 30,100
IT Architects/Consultants 24,800 28,600
IT Sales and Marketing 15,800 18,000
Systems Administration 8,300 9,600
Business/Process Design 6,000 7,300
(SkillProof, 2007)
 Most Required Tech Skills,
Nationwide, 2006 and 2007
Technology Job Openings (estimated)

2006 2007
(projected)
MS Windows O/S 32,900 41,900
SQL 26,000 34,900
Java 25,300 33,800
C++ 23,700 33,600
Oracle DBMS 17,000 19,700
XML 14,700 21,800
HTML 14,700 12,000
Linux 14,200 24,640

(SkillProof, 2007)
 Estimated IT Job Openings
Arkansas, 2004 – 2007

700
600
600 500
(projected)
500
400
400

300
200
200

100

0
2004 2005 2006 2007

The number of job openings for IT professionals in Arkansas has

increased by 200% from 2004 to 2006.

(SkillProof, 2007)
 100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900

0
Mar-04

(SkillProof, 2007)
May-04

Jul-04

Sep-04

Nov-04

Jan-05

Mar-05

May-05

Jul-05

Sep-05

Nov-05

Jan-06

Mar-06

May-06

Jul-06

Sep-06

Nov-06

Jan-07

Mar-07
Arkansas, 2004 – 2007

May-07
Estimated IT Job Openings
 Salary

Arkansas
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) in its latest
Occupational Employment Survey (OES), computer and
mathematical occupations ranked fourth in income of all
occupations in 2006 after Management, Legal and Architecture
and Engineering Occupations and before business and financial
operations occupations in Arkansas.

The mean income estimate for computer and mathematical

occupations for 2006 is $51,790

(SkillProof, 2007)
 Salary Statistics

IT related jobs are among the best paying jobs

with the highest expected growth rates.
(Money.Com at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestjobs/top50/index.html)

Job Growth Rate Annual Salary

(10 years) and Bonuses

Software engineer 46.07% $80,427

Computer and information scientists, 25.63% $96,797

research

36.10% $83,427
Computer/IT analyst
 Check it out yourself!

 The Future of IT (Microsoft Corp.) good overview of

job situation—shortage.
 Salary.Com about salaries.
 Job Web job outlook for various jobs and much more.
 SkillProof job stats updated regularly—very
 US Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics look up
jobs, outlook, salaries, etc.
 Microsoft Learning (IT Careers) lots of links to other
relevant sites pertaining to jobs, salaries, job outlook,
etc.
For Questions about SkillProof

contact:
Henning Seip
SkillPROOF Inc.
55 Broad Street, 10th floor
New York, NY 10004
ph: 917-463-3941
email: Henning.Seip@skillproof.com