2018 HOUSTON · 2017. 11. 27. · After three years of economic blues, the Houston IT employment market bottomed, stabilized, and now shows signs of growth. Our latest Hiring Trends

2018 HOUSTON

OVERVIEW

Stability Returns to Houston

After three years of economic blues, the Houston IT employment market bottomed, stabilized, and now shows signs of growth. Our latest Hiring Trends survey indicated that major cutbacks are over, and backfilling turnover and restoring positions lost during the downturn is almost certain through 2018. The present stretching of resources will force companies to add additional personnel. To this end, 30 percent of respondents plan to increase staff size in the coming year with only 12 percent planning to make cuts. We also anticipate upwards of 40 percent of companies to increase departmental spending to budget new projects, with the brunt of the workload performed by additional full-time staff instead of leaning on traditional contract workers as was done in past recoveries. We predict the greatest growth areas to be cybersecurity, software development, and business intelligence. It’s not time to celebrate yet; no one anticipates the boom experienced from 2008-2014. But no one did in 2008, either.

In the tight labor market, some sectors are close to full utilization: security, compliance, developers, business intelligence, ERP techno/functional analysts, and technical player/coaches. Lagging sectors include generic business analysts, project managers, general IT leadership, and management. These lagging areas are saturated, and we don’t anticipate much activity until we get into a true growth environment.

The primary trend we see is a pent-up demand for change among employed candidates. Our survey indicated that over 70 percent of employed IT workers are either actively or passively looking for another opportunity. The top reasons include: stagnant career growth both technically and into higher responsibility roles, stagnant compensation—base, bonuses, the higher cost of health care, Houston’s notorious commutes, and mindfulness of work/life balance among both senior workers who have paid their dues and younger workers transitioning into key roles. With 80 percent of respondents’ companies having no formal employee retention plans, companies are better able to make proactive low-cost counteroffers, with additional perks such as flexible work schedules, telecommuting, and an increase in vacation time.

We notice several shortages placing strain on the IT market; more baby boomers are reaching retirement age, the post-Y2K drought of IT workers sees shortages at certain skill levels, and foreign workers on H1’s that previously supplemented the boom’s high-end workforce are relocating out of Houston or the country. Due to these shortages, job postings in Houston have increased, with IT one of the most active sectors. However, the quantity of local, qualified candidates has decreased by more than 30 percent in the last year. Competition is tight, and the most qualified candidates are receiving multiple offers.

Houston’s recovery is driven primarily by the energy sector, with the last three years demonstrating that almost everyone in Houston is impacted by the energy industry. The stabilization of commodity prices and doubling of rig count are positive signs; however, as profits are still tight, we foresee consolidations in all industries, from energy to healthcare. To better leverage internal resources and minimize headcount growth, companies are reaching out to third parties for datacenters, cloud computing, SAAS, software development, and on-going support. This could lead to another round of cutbacks at the corporate offices in late 2018/19.

Ultimately, we think that the increase in project load as companies seek ways to scale without increasing personnel will lead to an increased demand for both full-time and contract IT employees over the next eighteen months. As the talent pool in these areas is already tight, premium compensation packages will be required to attract and retain the top performers.

Houston IT Hiring Trends: Stability Returns

Changes in Compensation

Base compensation for full-time employees remained flat through 2017, with most receiving, at best, the standard 1-3 percent increase. However, when considering total compensation—including bonuses and health insurance cost sharing—some have actually taken cuts in pay. Projections from our annual salary survey suggest that this will change through 2018, with 72 percent of respondents anticipating compensation increases this year. The majority of increases (54 percent), again, fall within the standard 1-3 percent range with 43 percent projecting increases in the 3-6 percent range. Contract rates for lower demand positions, on the other hand, have been cut by as much as 50 percent as supply outpaces demand, leading some of the best contractors to leave Houston altogether. Even with close to full employment, wages have remained stagnant.

Three years of a flat market left many of the most employable with a pent-up demand for change. Again, over 70 percent of full-time staff and over 90 percent of contractors are interested in new opportunities. This could well lead to the talent pool engaging in strategic repositioning—picking up new skills, seeking shorter commutes and increases in compensation. New hires receive incentives of 5-15 percent compensation increases and additional free time to make a move. Due to this aggressive competition, we advise our clients to consider the cost of retention versus the cost of turnover as most existing staff is valuable. In addition to compensation, a good retention strategy could include lower cost options such as working from home, increased free time and flexibility, new projects, and expressing appreciation for employee efforts and loyalty; an accommodating work environment can make a huge difference in employee retention.

One of the big challenges for CIOs will be budgetary pressure, despite a 40 percent increase in respondents reporting budget increases in 2018. The transition from building to sustaining has also caused unrest at the executive level with a high percentage interested in other options; however, a strong CIO business strategy can have a tremendous impact in repositioning companies for growth or sale.

We are living in interesting times, and what we have learned from the past is that Houston is a vibrant city with an entrepreneurial attitude. We have the largest port, medical center, and energy industry in the country. There is buzz about being able to ramp up quickly for domestic oil & gas production at a reduced cost. With the glut of premium office space, favorable tax rates, low cost of living, and a business-friendly city, we are in prime position to attract new business growth to our area.

How JDA Can Help Since 1981 JDA has been helping Houston companies build great IT departments. An active recruiter of IT professionals in Houston, JDA is a resource to identify and recruit the passive job seeker either on a full-time or contract basis.

For more information on how we can help you build a great IT department, contact James Del Monte, President, at 713.548.5444 or [email protected].

We’re optimistic for the future. We look forward to working with you on your full-time and contract IT staffing needs.

About the SurveyThe information presented above was compiled from our annual IT leadership survey of Houston-area VPs of IT, CIOs and IT Directors, and a survey conducted from our employed candidate pool. Compensation numbers are based on current base salaries and exclude bonuses.

SALARY HOURLY BILL RATE

LOW AVG HIGH LOW AVG HIGH

CIO - Large Company 1 7 10 11 $193 K $278 K $406 K $213 $297 $422

CIO - Mid-Size/Large Company 2 7 10 11 $179 K $208 K $338 K $198 $223 $351

CIO - Mid-Size Company 3 7 10 11 $154 K $190 K $339 K $170 $203 $352

CIO - Small Company 4 7 10 11 $127 K $168 K $263 K $141 $180 $273

CTO 1 10 $145 K $191 K $229 K $160 $205 $238

IT Director - Large Company 1 7 10 11 $138 K $176 K $274 K $152 $188 $285

IT Director - Mid-Size Company 2 3 7 10 11 $128 K $173 K $231 K $141 $186 $240

IT Director - Small Company 4 7 10 11 $94 K $129 K $174 K $104 $139 $181

CISO - Chief Information Security Officer $147 K $181 K $227 K $162 $194 $235

Security Manager/Director $117 K $148 K $190 K $129 $158 $197

IT Audit Manager/Director 8 $127 K $154 K $181 K $140 $165 $188

Business Applications Manager - Large Company 1 11 $149 K $179 K $207 K $164 $192 $215

Business Applications Manager - Mid-Size Company 2 3 11 $137 K $151 K $182 K $151 $162 $189

Data Center Manager 1 11 $122 K $141 K $171 K $135 $152 $178

Infrastructure Manager - Large Company 1 11 $143 K $169 K $202 K $158 $181 $210

Infrastructure Manager - Mid-Size Company 2 3 11 $117 K $152 K $180 K $129 $163 $187

Service Desk Manager - ITIL 11 $106 K $132 K $155 K $117 $141 $161

Help Desk Manager 11 $83 K $105 K $134 K $91 $112 $139

PMO Manager - with PMP 1 2 3 11 $127 K $144 K $174 K $140 $154 $181

Project Manager - with PMP 1 2 3 11 $96 K $129 K $158 K $106 $139 $164



Security Architect/Engineer 5 $93 K $133 K $163 K $103 $143 $169

Security Administrator 5 $76 K $120 K $144 K $84 $129 $150

Security INFOSEC - Compliance 5 $86 K $107 K $129 K $95 $115 $134

IT/IS Auditor To Lead $85 K $111 K $148 K $94 $119 $153

SECURITY AND AUDITCEOs and CIOs have seen security as the top priority in the IT department for the past few years now. With the constant threat of being breached, technology is being moved from the traditional data center into a cloud environment. This, along with an increase in governmental regulations, has led to an increase in demand for skilled professionals and new products. As the competition to attain these highly sought-after, experienced security professionals increases, salaries are expected to follow suit.

MANAGEMENTIT leadership and executive-level leadership is evolving into several distinct camps. In one camp, you have a true visionary and innovator that will leverage disruptive technology in order to drive an increased value-based model. On the other side, you have the tactical leader who’s driving for operational excellence, cost reduction, and in-creased efficiency. As we come out of the “run and maintain” stage of this downturn, the role of the executive and leadership team is expected to change going forward into the upswing. As the market rebalances, this “visionary and innovator” who can drive system improvements and change will become a more sought-after asset to the IT department, as opposed to the “all hands on deck” organization.

Our six-year trend shows a significant portion of IT leadership’s compensation is related to performance-based bo-nuses and incentives ranging from 0–100 percent (+/-) with the majority paying out in the range of 20-30 percent. These incentive-based compensation packages are used to attract and retain executive-level talent by companies that recognize the tremendous impact of a functional IT department, as the risk-reward model is attractive to top performers.

Project-based contractors, however, are experiencingflat rates and high competition.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, ANALYTICS, AND DATA WAREHOUSING As companies began leveraging the vast amount of data (big data) captured over the last twenty years, busi-ness intelligence, analytics, A/I, and data warehousing have increasingly become among the hottest sectors in the market. The marginal increase in executive reporting, customer service, sales, and product management has led to a projected budget increase for 2018. Due to the expansiveness in cost savings initiatives, demand for these individuals with a strong business foundation has consistently increased year over year.



Oracle Developer - PL/SQL Database Focused $102 K $119 K $149 K $113 $128 $155

Oracle - Techno/Functional Analyst 11 $107 K $129 K $158 K $118 $138 $164

Oracle - SME - Functional Analyst 11 $101 K $126 K $150 K $112 $135 $155

PeopleSoft Developer - PeopleTools 11 $83 K $108 K $131 K $92 $115 $136

PeopleSoft - SME - Functional Analyst 11 $102 K $121 K $147 K $113 $129 $153

SAP - Developer ABAP 11 $101 K $129 K $148 K $112 $138 $153

SAP - Techno/Functional Analyst 11 $117 K $140 K $171 K $129 $150 $178

SAP - SME - Functional Analyst 11 $103 K $133 K $169 K $114 $143 $176

ERP Administrator 5 $82 K $104 K $128 K $90 $112 $133

ERPThe ERP market is coming back to life after a twenty-four month slump. With the slow conservative approach we’ve seen over the last 2-3 years, large capital projects have been scarce, and new implementations and upgrades have been deferred. In conjunction with this, we have seen a substantial push for standardized processes and data stor-age fueled by the large amount of M&A activity. Integrators typically use off-shore resources to pick up most of the technical heavy-lifting for these projects, leaving more of the business process-focused functions to the internal staff. We foresee a relatively flat market for contractors in this area.



Senior Data Warehousing Specialist B/I 5 $116 K $141 K $160 K $128 $151 $167

Data Warehousing Specialist B/I 5 $88 K $127 K $143 K $97 $137 $149

ETL Developer $102 K $122 K $154 K $113 $130 $160

DBA - Senior 11 $111 K $143 K $163 K $123 $153 $169

DBA - Junior 11 $85 K $103 K $116 K $94 $111 $120

Oracle Developer - RICE/PL/SQL (4+ Years) $92 K $123 K $147 K $102 $132 $153

Data Analyst $86 K $115 K $136 K $95 $123 $141

Report Writer $66 K $86 K $106 K $73 $92 $110

Techno/Functional Analyst $94 K $119 K $149 K $104 $128 $155



Project/ Team Leader - Applications 1 2 3 11 $102 K $136 K $168 K $113 $145 $174

Enterprise/Applications Architect $109 K $147 K $175 K $120 $158 $182

Senior Developer/Team Lead 5 $108 K $148 K $159 K $119 $159 $166

Systems/Business Analyst 11 $88 K $125 K $149 K $97 $134 $155

SharePoint Developer (4-10 Years) $96 K $117 K $139 K $106 $126 $144

Developer - .NET (4-10 Years) 5 $94 K $127 K $152 K $104 $137 $158

Developer - JAVA (4-10 Years) 5 $85 K $110 K $144 K $94 $118 $150

Developer - C++ $85 K $119 K $141 K $94 $128 $146

Developer - Client Server (3+ Years) $74 K $99 K $130 K $82 $106 $135

Junior Developer (0-4 Years) 5 $63 K $88 K $112 K $69 $94 $117

Quality Assurance - Applications Testing $64 K $87 K $119 K $70 $93 $124

Quality Assurance - Team Lead/Manager $105 K $130 K $159 K $115 $139 $166

Entry-Level Applications - 4-Year Degree $45 K $54 K $77 K $50 $58 $80

Entry-Level Applications - 2-Year Degree $36 K $45 K $53 K $40 $48 $55

APPLICATIONS With the push to get more done with less, the demand for efficient and effective non-ERP systems has created a strong demand in this area. The demand for in-house custom apps developers has increased due to the lack of quality products produced by offshore teams. As a result, we are seeing full employment for Microsoft and Java full-stack developers. This spike in demand has led to the sharpest increase in both employment and salaries.



Developer - PHP, ASP, Flash, HTML $63 K $81 K $108 K $69 $87 $112

Graphics/Web Designer - Adobe Photoshop $48 K $65 K $85 K $53 $70 $88

Interactive Marketing/Search Engine Optimization $72 K $101 K $142 K $79 $108 $147

WEB DEVELOPMENTWeb applications have increasingly become more focused on user accessibility with easy-to-use interfaces for multi-device functionality. Companies are also working closely with back-end developers to maintain their brand through search engine optimization. Demand for web developers has consistently increased over the years, lead-ing to consistent increases in compensation.

TRAINING AND DOCUMENTATION



Technical Writer $63 K $75 K $105 K $69 $81 $109

Training $66 K $83 K $111 K $73 $89 $115



Infrastructure Project Manager 1 2 3 11 $103 K $116 K $159 K $114 $124 $166

Communications Architect - CCIE 1 2 3 $111 K $138 K $167 K $123 $148 $173

Systems Network Engineer (10+ Years) $99 K $123 K $154 K $109 $132 $160

Communications - VoIP $83 K $111 K $139 K $92 $119 $145

UNIX/Linux Administrator $68 K $107 K $134 K $75 $114 $139

UNIX/Linux System Engineer 1 2 3 $88 K $122 K $155 K $97 $130 $161

2nd Level LAN Administrator (7+ Years) $77 K $102 K $131 K $85 $109 $136

1st Level LAN Administrator (2+ Years) $60 K $81 K $96 K $66 $87 $99

Entry-Level Infrastructure - 4-Year Degree $45 K $50 K $70 K $50 $54 $73

Entry-Level Infrastructure - 2-Year Degree $32 K $39 K $47 K $35 $42 $49

Default:

· Rates apply to greater Houston metropolitan area.

· Candidate has 4-year degree unless otherwise noted.

· Contract term is greater than 6 months.

· Outliers are eliminated in compiling the survey.

· A more detailed survey is available for executive compensation at www.jdapsi.com.

ASSUMPTIONS



Help Desk - Level III Service Desk (7+ Years) $85 K $105 K $130 K $94 $113 $135

Help Desk - Level II Support (5-10 Years) 11 $68 K $87 K $102 K $75 $93 $106

Help Desk - Level I Support (0-10 Years) 11 $42 K $59 K $72 K $46 $63 $75

Software Support (2+ Years) 11 $50 K $74 K $98 K $55 $79 $102

Hardware Technician (1-5 Years) 11 $39 K $53 K $79 K $43 $57 $82

SERVICE DESK / HELP DESK / DESKTOP The framework of the service desk has shifted over the years due to improved technology and reporting. Through standardization, fewer staff can now effectively support more users. As a result, demand and salaries in this area are expected to remain flat.

INFRASTRUCTUREConsolidation, standardization, virtualization, storage capacity, and the need for upgrades all drive the demand for talented personnel in the infrastructure space. The biggest game-changer to come about is in cloud computing, which has shifted the infrastructure team’s focus from hardware support to applications management, delegating most of the responsibilities to the service company. With the emergence of these newer technologies, hiring in this space is expected to remain flat due to an individual’s ability to effectively support a larger user base. Compensa-tion for the support, administrative, and engineering levels are expected to remain flat, while architect levels are expected to increase.

Specific:

1. Large company is defined as greater than 100 IT employees.

2. Mid/large company is defined as 50 to 100 IT employees.

3. Mid-size company is defined as 10 to 49 IT employees.

4. Small company is defined as fewer than 10 IT employees.

5. Indicates hot skill – add 10 to 15 percent to salary (i.e.: security, B/I, mobile, engineering).

6. Excludes bonuses.

7. Top IT person.

8. Limited pool of candidates.

9. Team member.

10. Base compensation (Total = base + bonus + benefits).

11. Current contract market rates could be up to 50 percent less.

5 REASONS TO CHOOSE JDA

JDA is Established: You will reap the benefits that come only from time - lots of experience and a great reputation in the industry.

JDA is Reliable: You will have continual, timely access to all JDA staff members.

JDA is Effective: You will be presented with the right professional matches in the least amount of time using our “industry-best” processes and procedures.

JDA is Knowledgeable: You will be provided with the information necessary to make smart staffing and career decisions in this ever-evolving IT employment market.

JDA is Friendly: You will like working with us because we enjoy what we do, and it is reflected in the level of service provided to you.

JDA Professional Services, Inc. is a Houston-based IT staffing firm specializing in the recruitment of strategic-technical to executive-

level professionals. We provide staffing solutions through full-time, contract, and project-based placements. Since 1981, we

have been helping companies build great IT departments while helping IT professionals find the right career opportunities.

CONTACT JDA [email protected]

PHONE 713.548.5400 FAX 713.548.5480

VISIT US ONLINE AT WWW.JDAPSI.COM

Documents

2018 HOUSTON · 2017. 11. 27. · After three years of economic blues, the Houston IT employment market bottomed, stabilized, and now shows signs of growth. Our latest Hiring Trends