Rich pickings for those with the right skills

While we aren't about to pretend that the UK IT jobs market is suddenly full of vacancies and top salaries, we should take note of the latest statistics from tech skills body e-skills UK.

The e-skills quarterly review claims that the UK IT market has finally "bottomed out". Now that doesn't mean a recovery, and e-skills doesn't pretend it does, but it does mean there are a growing number of opportunities for those with the right technology skills.

IT managers and strategy and planning staff are in demand right now, whereas database administrators aren't, while development skills for .Net and C# are picking up as companies begin to invest more in web services.

But it is important for IT workers to know what they want. There is always reasonable demand for core skills but if it is just high salaries and high contractor rates you want, then the e-skills survey says Tibco, SSL, Middleware and LDAP skills will leave you being able to command upwards of £50 per hour.

And on the issue of offshore outsourcing the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo) says tech staff should quit complaining about their jobs going overseas and look for the opportunities that exist. ATSCo says that while there are enough skills in the local population for the lower level IT jobs offshore, many Indian recruitment firms come back to the UK for mid and top tier IT managers who can plan and manage major projects.

So, let's not get too carried away with the latest predictions – analyst Ovum Holway said last week that the contractor market won't pick up until 2006 – but there are signs of businesses beginning to up investment in IT and that means rich pickings for those tech staff with the right skills.