I.T. Workers Stay Put In Less-Promising Careers

Despite job loss pinned to outsourcing, the unemployment rate among IT professionals hovers at 3% -- unchanged from a year ago, according to InformationWeek Research. While tech workers in general say a career in IT isn't as promising as it was five years ago, those with jobs are satisfied with their current situations and arent actively looking for change. These are the telescoped views of nearly 11,000 IT professionals surveyed about their employment perceptions, compensation, and job satisfaction in InformationWeek Research's recent 2004 National IT Salary Survey.

Of the study's 5,321 IT staffers, half report being satisfied with all aspects of their jobs. Fifty-six percent of the 5,105 IT managers surveyed say they're satisfied, too. While some IT professionals report that they would explore a job opportunity if one arose, few are actually looking for a change in venue. Three in five tech staffers and managers report no interest in job hopping. In fact, job tenure is up. IT staffers have an average of five years with their current employers, compared with three years at their previous companies. IT managers report an average of six years, two years more than at their last employers, where they worked an average of four years in total.

Not only are IT professionals staying put longer, but they are also working longer weeks. IT staffers on average clock 66 hours, including standard work hours and hours on call. This is slightly less than the 72 hours reported by IT managers (though not all of that time is spent in the office). With so much time logged and their skills in high demand, both staffers and managers, not surprisingly, say work conditions have become more stressful in the past 12 months.

How are you balancing the demands of work and home? Share your tactics with your peers by writing to us at the address below.

Helen D'Antoni
Senior Editor, Research
[email protected]

Increased Hours

How many hours per week are you on call?

Flex schedules, remote workers, global commerce, and increased partnering with overseas service providers are making after-hours tech support a business necessity. In 2000, IT managers reported being on call an average of 16 hours a week, and IT workers, 15 hours. That's far less than today's average of 21 hours for managers and 20 hours for IT staffers.