2019, a time for new year’s resolutions; go to the gym, be more mindful, leave your job…Well, maybe not the latter, but according to Spicework’s ‘2019 State of IT Careers’ report that’s exactly what 51% of European IT professionals plan to do.
The report examines the tech career outlook and business hiring trends across North America and Europe, with the ‘leavers’ citing the main reason as searching for a better salary. However, 32% of organisations in the region plan to increase their IT staff in 2019, meaning that there is plenty of opportunity for IT professionals looking to change jobs.
Of those IT professionals planning to change jobs next year, 28% intend to move to a new employer, 9% want to change careers altogether, with 6% retiring and 8% looking to switch to IT consulting.
Those looking for new roles should be aware that the top five skills organisations are seeking include expertise in cybersecurity, infrastructure hardware, end-user hardware, networking solutions, and software deployment. Of these attributes, businesses in North America are significantly more focused on networking skills than their counterparts in Europe with 37% and 27% respectively, seeking such specialisms.
A better salary and more training
Among IT professionals in the region seeking new employment in 2019, the results show most (52%) are looking for a better salary. Currently, the median salary for IT professionals in Europe is €55,000, compared to $70,000 in North America.
The results also show that 51% of European IT professionals seeking new employment are looking for more opportunities to advance their IT skills, and 37% are looking for a better work/life balance.
Staying up to date
When it comes to the biggest IT challenges companies expect to face next year, keeping IT infrastructure up to date tops the list with 45% identifying it as the biggest challenge. This makes sense considering most organisations plan to boost IT budgets next year in an effort to refresh ageing infrastructure.
This was followed by 43% of European organisations seeing regulation as being a key challenge for 2019, a figure that is nearly 20% higher than their counterparts in North America.
Undoubtedly the introduction of GDPR will have played a significant role in this disparity. Other challenges concerning European employers included upgrading outdated software as well as balancing daily IT tasks with improvement projects.
“Overall, the job outlook looks promising for IT professionals in 2019,” said Peter Tsai, senior technology analyst at Spiceworks. “As a result, many tech professionals are polishing up their resumes in hopes of landing a position that offers a more competitive salary or an opportunity to advance their skills. At the same time, many organisations in Europe are eager to find employees with the right expertise to help upgrade their outdated infrastructure and stay compliant with GDPR.”
For more information and a complete list of survey results, visit: https://www.spiceworks.com/marketing/state-of-it/report/it-careers/.
