IT Professionals a Bit More Optimistic about Job Market

IT pros are showing a touch of renewed optimism about their job prospects this year, according to new data from Technisource.

Measuring the level of confidence in the tech industry, the latest IT Employee Confidence Index inched to 52 out of 100 during the fourth quarter, up from 47.3 in the previous quarter. Though hardly a huge leap, the number showed at least a sign of increased optimism by bouncing past 50.

The rise was triggered mostly by a perception in the availability of more jobs and a better chance of getting a job. But IT pros are also less concerned about losing their jobs over the next 12 months.

Among those polled, 18 percent feel that more IT jobs are available, a rise of seven points from the third quarter. However, those who think fewer jobs are available stayed the same at 56 percent. A full 42 percent are confident they’d be able to find a new job, up two points from the prior quarter.

Even further, slightly more IT pros (63 percent) have faith in the future of their employers. Only 16 percent are worried about the likelihood of losing their jobs. A full 70 percent don’t think they’ll lose their current jobs. Finally, 22 percent of the people surveyed think the economy is getting stronger, up nine points from the third quarter.

Although the latest report hardly points to a sustained turnaround at this point, Techinsource took it as a result of increased demand for IT pros.

 “We are seeing great demand for project managers, analytics professionals and .NET (News - Alert) application developers, showing that companies are opening their budgets and embracing technology implementation,” said Andrew Speer, president of technology solutions for Technisource.

Speer also had some words of advice for companies who want to keep their existing IT staff intact.

“While our survey showed no change in the number of tech professionals looking to actively seek out new employment, it is still one third of the workforce keeping their eyes open and it remains critical to focus on your current IT teams in order to mitigate unnecessary hiring and re-training costs,” he added.

Any gains in confidence about the job market are certainly cause for optimism. But we still face a shaky economy and tentative employment market, so such results should always be viewed cautiously. Until we start to see more consistent growth in all of those factors from quarter to quarter, we’re likely to still face another year of the usual ups and downs.

Conducted by Harris Interactive (News - Alert) on behalf of Technisource from October 10-12, November 14-16, and December 12-14, 2011, the survey polled 3,721 adults in the U.S., of which 246 work directly in IT.