GLOBAL TREND REPORT IT DEVELOPMENT & TESTING 2015 OUTLOOK

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1 GLOBAL TREND REPORT IT DEVELOPMENT & TESTING OUTLOOK

2 MOBILE & DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND ANALYTICS DRIVING DEMAND In line with our commitment to keep professionals working in the IT Development & Testing discipline up to date with employment and recruitment trends, in the last quarter of 2014 Morgan McKinley conducted an international survey of its consultants in five markets. We are seeing many functions being offshored but digital and mobile technologies, and analytics, are driving healthy demand in all of the markets surveyed. Technical expertise is often taken as a given; hiring organisations are especially keen to find IT Development & Testing professionals with an analytical mindset and the ability to communicate with the business. QUICK LINKS MAINLAND CHINA... 2 HONG KONG... 3 IRELAND...4 JAPAN... 5 SINGAPORE... 6 In Mainland China there are many rewarding opportunities opening up in startups There is keen competition for top talent in Hong Kong, especially for digital and mobile technologies, data management and analytics The economic upswing is contributing to a strong demand for full time and contract professionals in Ireland In the Japanese financial services sector there are opportunities for candidates with a strong analytical mindset Global trends such as offshoring and the demand for digital and mobile specialists with exposure to the Agile methodology are especially pronounced in Singapore 1

3 Professionals moving to startups can double or even triple their salaries. MAINLAND CHINA STARTUPS DRIVING DEMAND FOR TALENT In Mainland China we saw demand for IT Development & Testing professionals picking up in 2014, with demand for new headcount and increasing recruitment budgets driven by mobile, digital and customer experience projects. We also expect to see IT security becoming a further growth area in We have seen many IT Development & Testing professionals being attracted away from large multinational companies into fast-growing internet enterprises, comments Vicky Wang, Manager, Information Technology at Morgan McKinley s Shanghai office. There are hundreds of new internet startups currently recruiting and professionals joining these companies can double or even triple their previous salaries. A university degree or HND in computer sciences, fluency in a second language, and a good grounding in statistics and analytics are all good assets for candidates. There is insufficient local talent to meet the demand, and many candidates in Mainland China may be drawn to Hong Kong and elsewhere, so there are opportunities for overseas applicants. One problem is the lack of a developed contract market in Mainland China, says Wang. The outlook is very positive for 2015, despite lingering economic uncertainties, says Wang. SALARIES & BENEFITS Salaries will continue to rise among fast-growing startups but will remain fairly stable in large multinationals. 2

4 Try to get more exposure to gain solid knowledge of new technologies and the business imperatives. HONG KONG TIME TO THINK AHEAD Mobile and digital technologies together with data management and analytics are driving demand in Hong Kong, with many companies looking to recruit new talent, which is currently in short supply. In many cases, companies are looking to Mainland China to fill the gaps, says Michael Wah, Information Technology Consultant at Morgan McKinley Hong Kong. However, we have also seen an increasing number of IT Development & Testing functions outsourced, in particular to India and Mainland China. Roles that are very much in demand at the moment include.net developers, mobile developers, Java developers, SQL reports developers, software design engineers, scrum masters and quality assurance engineers. This is a fast-developing discipline, so Wah s advice to IT Development & Testing professionals is to think ahead. Never stick with one role or one company for more than four years if you are new to the discipline. Try to learn and get more exposure to gain solid knowledge of new technologies and the business imperatives. Hiring organisations often find that candidates technical knowledge, and their interpersonal and communication skills, do not meet expectations. Our outlook is optimistic. The Hong Kong market is candidate-driven and will not slow down, says Wah. SALARIES & BENEFITS We expect salaries to increase ahead of inflation as there is keen competition for top talent. 3

5 You must continue to upskill if you want to advance. IRELAND CANDIDATES RECEIVING COUNTER OFFERS The market is getting much better for IT Development & Testing professionals in Ireland with demand for new headcount driven by the economic upswing and a wealth of new IT implementations and projects. With the shortage of qualified talent, we are seeing a lot of candidates receiving counter offers, and the contract market is extremely buoyant, says Ger Knowles, Associate Director Information Technology, at Morgan McKinley s Dublin office. Hiring organisations are likely to experience difficulties in attracting the best talent. Mobile and digital technologies, together with IT security, are the main employment growth areas at the moment. Roles are becoming more and more specialised and this trend will continue. We have already seen Javascript developers get more specialised, splitting into niche frameworks such as angular.js and backbone.js, says Knowles. At the senior end of the market there is still intense competition for the best roles. In this discipline you must continue to upskill if you want to advance, advises Knowles. SALARIES & BENEFITS Salaries will increase and in terms of benefits, IT Development & Testing professionals often want more flexibility to work from home. 4

6 A good working knowledge of English is vital for many roles. JAPAN SALARIES DECLINING BUT OUTLOOK OPTMISTIC There is a high level of demand for IT Development & Testing professionals in the Japanese banking and finance sector, though many functions have been offshored. Salaries have been depressed in recent years and there is a severe shortage of appropriately qualified talent moving into the discipline, despite the economic upswing. IT security, data management and operational/erp systems are the main growth areas. A good working knowledge of English is vital for many of these roles and this is precisely where many Japanese candidates fall short of expectations, says Karim Hakam, Operations Director at Morgan McKinley s Tokyo office. Japanese ex-pats, who have gained experience overseas and learnt a second language, usually English, are in demand again, but they need to be back in Japan for the interview process. Hakam expects the roles of IT Development & Testing professionals to evolve further in 2015, with increasing focus on business analysis and less on hands-on development. An analytical mindset combined with specific ERP experience, in particular Oracle or SAP, are powerful assets, he says. The outlook is positive for candidates offering the right skill sets. Morgan McKinley provides candidates with the right preparation and consistent feedback to help them advance in this respect, says Hakam. SALARIES & BENEFITS Salaries are likely to decline going into

7 In larger organisations that are adopting Agile, developers are doubling up as business analysts. SINGAPORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROFESSIONALS WITH AGILE EXPERIENCE In Singapore we saw some deterioration in the IT Development & Testing jobs market in 2014, largely as a consequence of globalisation of functions and organisational changes. Many of our clients continue to hire developers but others have pursued aggressive offshoring exercises, reports Gurj Sandhu, Associate Director IT at Morgan McKinley Singapore. We have seen a market adjustment over the past few months with an excess supply of candidates and many multinationals offshoring. As a result, large numbers of IT Development & Testing professionals have taken on contracts at lower rates of pay, some have moved abroad and others are sitting tight hoping for a market improvement. Demand is more positive in commercial and vendor organisations. But it s really only in digital and mobile that there is a skills shortage, especially as Singapore is a startup hub in these technologies, adds Sandhu. The main growth area currently is banking platforms, with many financial services companies moving towards Agile development or a hybrid Agile model. There is a flatter structure in some of the larger organisations that are adopting Agile, with developers doubling up as business analysts. For many working in the IT Development & Testing environment, this is proving to be a difficult transition, says Sandhu. There are often very specific and high expectations for roles in this market space, which is leading to long hiring processes. Being a great software developer is not enough. Today, you are often expected to develop code, communicate with the business, conduct analysis and carry out tests. Digital and compliance projects are also major growth areas with developers in technologies such as.net, Android, C#, Java, MySQL and Python much in demand, as are scrum masters, QA engineers and test engineers. We anticipate more demand for front office development projects in 2015, says Sandhu. Companies that have difficulties finding local candidates with the right skill mix will look to India, China and Australia. The contract market is also very buoyant, both in financial services and in commerce and industry. Sandhu s advice to IT Development & Testing professionals is to be the best at what they do, keeping up to date with the latest versions of software in development, and with new trends and new technologies. Ideally you work in an Agile environment. Many companies are transitioning to Agile. For the foreseeable future, many hiring organisations will struggle to find senior candidates who bring the right skill sets and experience of working closely with the business. One of the key advantages for candidates who work with Morgan McKinley is the ability to assess their skill levels with independent testing through IKM (International Knowledge Management). Morgan McKinley Singapore has over 300 tests available in technologies such as Java, Oracle and Android. 6

8 SALARIES & BENEFITS Those who can work closely with the business while offering excellent technical ability can expect a salary increase, perhaps in the order of 10-15% when moving between organisations. On the other hand with retrenchment and offshoring many less qualified candidates will take a drop in salary when taking up a new permanent role or entering the contract market. 7

9 GLOBAL TREND REPORT IT DEVELOPMENT & TESTING A MORGAN McKINLEY GROUP COMPANY