Scots techies get a boost
Salaries for IT professionals in Scotland have jumped more than 9% over the last 12 months, according to one local technology recruiter.
Rupert Bayfield, joint head of IT recruitment at Scots firm CyberTeam, says the increase reflects the abandonment of outsourcing abroad as banks and other companies take more of their IT work in-house.
"Many companies have realized offshore outsourcing doesn't deliver the expected benefits in many instances, and as a result much of the demand for staff is coming from the creation of new jobs in Scotland," he says. "Equally, IT staff have become hot property again, and much of the recruitment activity is driven by the need to replace staff who have been tempted to change companies."
JPMorgan announced an additional 200 Scottish software jobs in December. Separately, the Royal Bank of Scotland's PMI Business Survey for February singled out IT and accountancy as main drivers of robust recruitment in the country last month.
While the booming Scottish financial services sector and public sector remain the principal recruiters, Bayfield says competition for staff is also heating up in the IT services sector.
The increased demand is being met through a combination of attracting workers from other Scottish employers and enticing people returning to Scotland from elsewhere in the UK. It is also being met by skilled people relocating from Eastern Europe.
Bayfield added demand was evenly split between Glasgow and Edinburgh, with particular demand for project management, testing, and Java and .NET- based development skills.
