With India and China now working in league, where will the European IT world be in 5yrs from now, or even you?

Putting their previous problems behind them, India  are investing heavily in Chinese IT companies, and China themselves are building deep-water ports around India (to facilitate bulk shipping vessels), and also Power Plants there.  I can predict that both South Korea and Taiwan will bury their past differences with China/India, only to jump aboard the new trade and manufacturing possibilities there.  It’s going to be a major jump forward in trade not only in the Asian area but the whole world.

The signs are there, India’s students are learning the Mandarin language and the Chinese Students are learning Indian languages!  The Indian and Chinese Hardware houses are recruiting British and European Teckies, and investing heavily in “New Wave” Technologies, technologies we haven’t even seen in the UK yet.  I have already written about these products on here, so major manufacturers watch out, the carnivorous appetite of the Asian electronics giants will soon be eating up your market!

What does it mean? Well great news if you are a High Street “Box Shifter” loads of cheap White and IT goods.  Bad news if you are supplying all the associated services onces enjoyed by supporting a UK distribution Market.  It will be cheaper to replace than repair, much cheaper than it is now! Again, my prediction is complete PCs and laptops both under £200 each, and that is a scary thought if you are currently selling IT goods in the UK, with very little profit margin, as it is at the moment! It’s bad enough that Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s sell PCs, Laptops and TVs.  I mean what do they know about the product, how do they support it (thats if they even try to, probably you have to phone India for support) and why are they even going into a market place they know very little about?  As an IT guy I don’t sell Brussels Sprouts (something I know nothing about),  so why do they sell White or IT goods?  The only answers here is profit!  It’s a one stop shop for all you household needs, maybe next they will also sell cars on their petrol station forecourts? Maybe even have your car washed, MOT and serviced while you shop in store for you food… Ummm They won’t be doing that  for me, even with extra points!

Imagine a High Street shop with a host of new brands.  So sorry Mr “Sony Shop” forget your market-place presents, with Mr “Joe Hong-Kong” high quality marketplace clone products, selling at your half the price of yours, in the shop right next-door to yours!

Trade and import limitations will not stop the flood of the goods hitting our shores. Imports mean “Import taxes”, sales of imported goods means more VAT taxes and TAXES make the government VERY happy.  This will herald the end of free enterprise for the independent White goods and IT retailers….

Will there be any room for the UK support personnel also? No, not with the outsourced support from English speaking “Call Centres” in India & China!

I really hope I am wrong, but I fear times are changing lads and lasses, so be warned.. It’s on it’s way and sooner than you may wish to believe…. And will you survive with even more cheap imports on the market?

Dare I say have a prosperous New Year?

For the first time this year, IT support roles have over taken the number of IT manager jobs on site yet these two key roles continue to represent the highest proportion of jobs on site.

The number of roles in SQL, web development, software engineering, PHP, Java, ERP and .net have each witnessed increases for the last three months; with only Java jobs seeing a small dip in August.

At the end of 2009, we predicted that skills such as .net, web development, SAP and Java would be in real demand for the year ahead. And the findings from this third quarter report certainly seem to indicate such a trend. As companies get to grips with social and business networking, Web 2.0 skills are proving to be critical.

Every month we record the volume of skills in demand in roles advertised on our site, which provides a strong indication of the state of the market.

We are pleased to report that since the beginning of 2010, the number of roles advertised on site has remained consistent.

As per the first half of the year, IT manager and IT support roles represent the highest proportion of jobs on the site. Other core skills in demand include: software developers, SQL and project managers.

Contract positions continue to rise, currently accounting for approximately 30 percent of jobs advertised.

Demand for IT security roles continues to witness an increase, representing growth in non-core areas, and an indication of the skills that IT pros should be seeking to master from a training perspective.

And here’s an insider’s tip for you: when it comes to job applications, summer tends to witness a seasonal lull. However this trend does not apply for jobs on the market. That means if you want to get ahead, now is a great time to apply.

Everyone’s been talking about Apple’s latest trophies: the ipad and the iphone 4.

Unfortunately the latter appears to be experiencing some ‘technical difficulties’, yet according to an article on Computer Weekly today, they’re not going to recall it. How gutted would you be!

The ipad, on the other hand, has been much more successful. (And John Allen has already shared his thoughts on it).

It just looks like a giant iphone and at first I thought it appeared a bit cumbersome to be a handheld device or that it might accidentally just slide off your lap. But when I managed to get my hands on my mate’s for a test drive, I must say I was more than a little envious!

The ipad has certainly been making an impression amongst IT professionals too. In the first month the ipad was launched, visits to the site via this gadget increased by 571%.

Not surprising, I hear you say, considering this device did not exist before.

So one month on, how are the stats looking? Still increasing.

So what if you don’t have spangley new £429 ipad?

The top 5 mobile platforms used to visit the site (including the % increase) are:

1) iPhone + 28.54%
2) Android + 16.35%
3) iPad 21.24%
4) Blackberry + 15.14%
5) iPod + 18.52%

At the other end of the spectrum, visits to the site from an old Nokia are down 42.9%.

Old skool Nokias are definitely out, the ipad is officially the hottest new thing since the Ferrari 458 Italia.

And if you specialise in developing mobile devices, you know where to go

Since England’s exit from the World Cup, there has been a 23 percent increase in employment searches online, according to Experian Hitwise , the leading global online competitive intelligence service.

And, it seems the IT community has played its part in this trend. Reinforcing the Hitwise statistic, we carried out our own research – analysing the two weeks pre- and post-England’s knockout against Germany .

Comparing the week before and after the match, the .co.uk site saw an 18 percent increase in natural search traffic, and a 10 percent rise in total site visits. Did the World Cup distract IT pros from their job searches? Or did they choose to just put their hunting on hold?

When it came to the all important CVs, there was a 20 percent increase in new CVs being uploaded to the site, and 25 percent of existing CVs were updated.

Therefore the stats suggest that the World Cup acted as a real distraction from UK job searching; with the IT sector proving to be no exception.

However, our recent World Cup survey highlighted tournament fever was failing to distract UK IT departments, with the majority stating that they would not call in sick for any of the games. But this doesn’t seem to be the case when it comes to IT pros’ job searches.

Since the Germany Vs England match, The IT Job Board.co.uk has seen a real increase in site visits, and in the number of CVs being uploaded and updated online. Perhaps an early bath for the team has stimulated movement in a traditionally sluggish summer period.

Maybe if we’d stayed in a bit longer, we could have procrastinated a bit more. Now, don’t even get me started on goal line technology…

Election fever has officially hit the UK, and with all the talk of online polls, Twitter and other social networking tools being used to fuel debate, The IT Job Board decided to investigate how these new channels are adding a different dimension to the 2010 election campaign.

A new era

68% of IT professionals revealed that they have been following the television debates between the three main parties in this election campaign. Some even informed us they felt that the television debates have made it the most interesting election for decades.

Survey respondents also divulged that they use a combination of online news channels and traditional print newspapers to keep up to date with election news.

Our survey base confirmed that the main advantages of using new mediums such as Twitter are:

• Speed – instant updates
• Opinion – gathering the diverse viewpoints
• Debate – interact in live discussion

IT professionals in our survey also felt that social mediums are helping to engage a younger audience who have shown no previous interest in politics and represent a huge step forward from the traditional approach.

70% also stated that each political party has had to become more web savvy in order to attract the modern voter.

All talk and no action

However there was a general consensus: there is obvious scepticism towards all parties in general.

Faced with the question of whether any of the parties’ manifestos will have a positive effect on the IT and technology industry:

• 32% stated yes, if they actually keep their promises
• a further 34% stated they were not sure

In addition, 45% do not believe any of the parties’ plans will play a positive role in the number of IT jobs and 30% claimed no party would offer support for the IT and technology industry.

Therefore each party has a lot of work to do in convincing IT professionals that they can make a difference.

The way forward

Although news broadcasters are still the channel of choice for IT professionals, one survey participant summed it up nicely:

“The 2010 election has taken a refreshing approach to getting people involved and generally modernising their approach in reaching the general public and getting varying age groups and people involved.”