The technology market has seen continual rapid growth over the last number of years, both in terms of its staffing requirements and the new businesses that are either being set up or are centralising IT teams in Ireland. This year we are seeing it beginning to exceed the peak levels of 2007, so with this in mind, there is a greater need than ever for highly experienced and niche individual skills that must be sought globally.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]There has been a far greater rise in permanent employment, due to both financial stability and the need to retain talent within the business.[/pullquote]Contracting has maintained its popularity among the companies that wish to plug urgent gaps in projects or for those in search for very niche skills. For companies, this has also helped to reduce the headcount on projects, although it has also led to higher business costs.
There has been a far greater rise in permanent employment, due to both financial stability and the need to retain talent within the business. A shortage of talent in Ireland has meant that businesses have needed to look to Europe and internationally for the talent they require. This has led to a higher number of companies applying for critical skills visas and work permits for non-EU nationals and creating attractive relocation packages to support their move.
On average, permanent staff are changing employers every 2-4 years. This often comes about because of either better career and project opportunities or better salaries and benefits.
There has been a small but gradual increase in both salaries and daily-rate contracts. The areas that have seen the greatest growth in salary levels are Development, Cybersecurity and Big Data. These areas have become highly sought after by experienced mid- to senior-level experienced individuals, and as a result the salaries have become ever-more fluctuating.
The salaries among start-ups or tech development companies have increased significantly; however, mainstream multinationals are not subject to the same inflation, often leveraging the strong company reputation and better project exposure.
Benefits have greatly changed in recent years and a person will often only accept certain offers, depending on the full package. The main thingspeople are looking for are a strong work–life balance (flexi-working hours), potential remote work from time to time, strong pensions and health packages, subsidised or paid educational benefits, strong bonus systems, and strong holidays.
Highly skilled individuals who are more inclined to make the most money over a period of time will often be drawn to contracting. As was mentioned above, the areas in highest demand are still Big Data and Data Scientists, Cybersecurity, and Infrastructure Security (mostly with experience in cloud infrastructure), and Software and Application Development (namely Java and .Net – there has been a large increase in requests for Full Stack Development).
This year we have seen a large number of start-ups, large companies setting up Irish headquarters and huge amounts of VC capital for new business ideas. It seems that Ireland and Dublin, in particular, will hold onto the EU Hub for IT excellence, making it a very attractive place for both companies and IT professionals. We would expect salaries to increase again over the year, but an enhanced work-life balance is proving more important and will be a critical deciding factor in attracting new talent. We would also expect to see an increase in talent entering Ireland from non-EU countries, whereby companies will be required to sponsor new professionals to plug key gaps.
View the latest recruiting challenges for employers across Ireland and see the latest market rate salaries in IT
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