IT Professionals Rate Training Over Wage Increases in 2008

Over 6,000 Irish IT professionals surveyed conducted by ComputerJobs.ie recently, place a higher level of importance on training as opposed to a pay rise. The survey asked ëwhat advice they would give their senior IT managers on retaining staff in 2008í, 48% of respondents replied they would like more training over 33% of replies who would advise a pay rise.

This result was reflected in the advice that our participants had for 2008 IT Grads - 'Get as much training as possible' and 'Choose experience and training over money'.

ìThe message is clear that continued professional development must be a high priority in 2008 for Irish IT companies, both blue chip and SMEís, if they want to retain valuable staffî says Niall Kelly, Director of ComputerJobs.ie.

Senior IT Managers may need to improve their own management skills according to the survey - as half of all respondents rated their senior IT management skills as ìfair to middling and could do better.î

Job security doesnít seem to be a concern from the ground level, with 7 out of 10 Irish IT Professionals expressing confidence in available roles in the marketplace.

The survey covered a cross section of IT professionalsfrom Grads to senior IT managers across all disciplines of IT, including Developers, Network engineers, QA engineers and IT project managers. Over 50% in the 100 staff range with the remainder employed across small to medium companies.