Optimistic Outlook for IT Professionals

Author: Teresa Hoelle, PEQ Services + Solutions

March 2010

If you are an IT professional, your future looks bright!

Let’s repeat that one more time just in case you didn’t catch that.

If you are an IT professional, your future looks bright!

That’s right! According to new research released by Gartner and data from the US Department of Labor, IT professionals have a good future ahead of themselves in 2010 and beyond.

If you are stuck in a negative wintery gloom, still pained by backlashes of the economic fallout, or just might be one of those too common downer-Daytonites, and therefore are having a difficult time sharing my enthusiasm, please read on. Take heart and take a look at these figures. As you continue, I think you too will feel a bit brighter about what lies ahead for you and the IT profession. First, the US Department of Labor has been tracking that employee productivity has been increasing. And, while we all may already know that that is a good sign that companies will soon be hiring again, there’s also something else important to consider specific to Information Technology. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that greater than 80% of US productivity growth is generated from IT alone. Furthermore, IT remains a competitive differentiator in an organization’s productivity. Translation: if American businesses want to be more competitive, information technology will be their bridge to success.

That’s where you come into the equation; US companies need your expertise to get there.

Figure 1 – US Department of Labor Statistics trends on relationship between US Productivity and Information Technology


Want more good news? Well, it’s probably not a surprise to you that 2009 was the worst year EVER for IT growth worldwide. But, according to a recent study released by Gartner (Figure 2), it’s a now new decade and IT spending is on the rise again. In fact, the estimated increase in spend in 2010 will be so great that it will completely offset the decline we faced in 2009. And, when IT spending increases, so will the demand for IT professionals.

Figure 2 – World Wide Annual Growth Rate in IT Spending, Source Gartner IT Market Data Book Spending Forecast