It’s a retail IT workers’ market, as demand for web-based systems among all types of retailers is pushing up hiring—and wages—of professionals trained in XML, Service Oriented Architecture and other forms of web-based technology, reports workforce services and research firm Yoh. The number of web-technology workers at retailers, including contract consultants as well as in-house staff, rose 6% in the third quarter over Q2, and Q4 is expected to show a net increase of 10% over Q2, Yoh vice president of operations Charlie Jones says.
“All the different types of web technology that are key to designing and developing web pages and building web-based front-end and back-end systems are what’s hot now among retailers—and will continue to be hot,” Jones tells InternetRetailer.com. Service-Oriented Architecture, or SOA, uses web-based integration technology to enable a disparate collection of software applications to exchange data.
Historically, retail IT staffs have leveled off in the second half following the launch of products earlier in the year, Jones says. But demand for web-technology this year has continued to increase as retailers are trying to complete technology projects that had been put on hold a year or two ago. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand,” he says. “As retailers are coming out of the hard times of a couple of years ago, they’re creating demand for this type of talent, and I don’t see the demand slowing down for next year.”
The growth in IT staffs is consistent across big, medium and large retailers, creating a broader variety of opportunities for web-technology professionals, Jones adds. “Everyone is competing for the same type of talent, and professionals have their choice of going with a big, medium or small organization,” he says.
Wages also are rising, and are up about 7% this year over 2005 for contract consultants, Yoh reports. Hourly wages this year start at about $45 for software programmers and go as high as $100 for senior-level system architects, Jones says.
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