News

Data Managers are Hottest of the Hot

• By Stephen Swoyer
• October 24, 2005

What’s hot for 2006? According to salary researcher and management consultancy Foote Partners, data management is a sizzling technology sector. DM skills are in high demand, with data warehousing and business intelligence specialists, ERP and CRM professionals, and database administrators and database developers among the hottest of the hot.

Foote’s tracks 50,000 private and public sector IT workers and 1,800 North American employers in a variety of geographic locales, vertical markets and market segments.

DM skills are most highly sought by companies looking to fill customer-facing positions, but opportunities abound for other IT pros, too. For example, application development is a red-hot technology sector, according to Foote researchers. In fact, over the next 12 months, the skills of programmers with EAI, .NET, Web application, ERP or CRM development skills should be highly sought.

Help desk specialists should also fare fairly well over the next 12 months. This is good news for two technology sectors that, in the past, have been among the first to go offshore.

"This…[is] where the action will be in IT for the next 12 months, and also where our compensation surveys are indicating the best pay opportunities for IT professionals. Demand will be elevated for many reasons, plus many of these jobs and skills will be only selectively outsourced or offshored, according to our latest research,” said co-founder and president David Foote, in a statement.