Over the past decade the XpertHR Computer Staff Salary Survey has grown by well over a third. In May 2000 it had data on 47,058 employees in 42 job functions. By December 2011 it covered 65,823 employees in 57 functions.
But where have all the new jobs come from?
Since 2000, the only job function to have been deleted is "key input". The 16 new functions added to the survey are listed here (along with the number of employees covered by each function last time round):
| Job Function | No. |
| Applications Support (59) | 1905 |
| Customer Services (83) | 1746 |
| Business Strategy Consultancy (27) | 856 |
| IT Consultancy (28) | 549 |
| IT Sales (90) | 527 |
| Application Consultancy (29) | 310 |
| Client-Server Support (68) | 297 |
| Procurement (95) | 284 |
| Operations Research (39) | 192 |
| Knowledge Management (81) | 135 |
| Disaster Recovery (75) | 125 |
| Bid Management (97) | 109 |
| Configuration Management (73) | 85 |
| Risk Management (79) | 67 |
| Performance Diagnostics (53) | 66 |
| Human Factors - ergonomics (40) | 18 |
Within the 41 job functions that have been represented continuously since 2000, 24 now cover more employees than they did then. They are as follows:
| Job Function | 2000 | 2011 | Diff. | % |
| Technical Consultancy (26) | 64 | 1303 | 1239 | 1936% |
| Programme/Project Office (92) | 67 | 887 | 820 | 1224% |
| PC Systems/Multi-Skilled Client Server (64) | 931 | 5692 | 4761 | 511% |
| Systems Testing (35) | 262 | 1538 | 1276 | 487% |
| Account Management (80) | 524 | 2790 | 2266 | 432% |
| Architecture (54) | 562 | 2715 | 2153 | 383% |
| Project Management (33) | 1520 | 4853 | 3333 | 219% |
| General Management (30) | 480 | 1097 | 617 | 129% |
| Webmaster/Designer (61) | 150 | 315 | 165 | 110% |
| Technical Support (60) | 2350 | 4907 | 2557 | 109% |
| Change Control (74) | 208 | 391 | 183 | 88% |
| Security Administration (78) | 248 | 466 | 218 | 88% |
| Security & Computer Audit (38) | 136 | 253 | 117 | 86% |
| Developer (46) | 2372 | 4379 | 2007 | 85% |
| Help Desk (84) | 2151 | 3835 | 1684 | 78% |
| Performance &Capacity Planning (77) | 105 | 150 | 45 | 43% |
| IT Marketing (91) | 86 | 110 | 24 | 28% |
| Quality Assurance (37) | 271 | 345 | 74 | 27% |
| Computer Operations (88) | 2150 | 2671 | 521 | 24% |
| Contracts Management (96) | 124 | 152 | 28 | 23% |
| Human Resources (98) | 91 | 105 | 14 | 15% |
| Administration (94) | 887 | 1004 | 117 | 13% |
| Database (52) | 756 | 810 | 54 | 7% |
| Business Systems (34) | 4723 | 5037 | 314 | 7% |
The sample size of 16 functions increased by more than 40% over the period. Most remarkably of all, technical consultancy increased by 1,936%, the largest rise in percentage terms. In absolute terms, the biggest increase was in PC Systems/Multi-skilled Client Server.
Of the 17 functions where numbers decreased, the biggest faller was Analyst Programming, which had been the biggest group of all in 2000. The others were:
| Job Function | 2000 | 2011 | Diff. | % |
| Network Operations (89) | 275 | 269 | -6 | -2% |
| Operations Support (82) | 1930 | 1727 | -203 | -11% |
| Network Services (69) | 1046 | 916 | -130 | -12% |
| Development Management (32) | 955 | 768 | -187 | -20% |
| Systems Programming (50) | 1081 | 833 | -248 | -23% |
| Technical Author (49) | 52 | 40 | -12 | -23% |
| Resource Management (93) | 132 | 91 | -41 | -31% |
| Implementation (76) | 328 | 217 | -111 | -34% |
| Production Control (85) | 409 | 232 | -177 | -43% |
| Print Shop (86) | 151 | 72 | -79 | -52% |
| Programming (44) | 2627 | 1219 | -1408 | -54% |
| Systems Design (36) | 2730 | 1245 | -1485 | -54% |
| Training (99) | 303 | 135 | -168 | -55% |
| PC Support Centre (67) | 3187 | 1287 | -1900 | -60% |
| Analyst Programming (42) | 9515 | 3418 | -6097 | -64% |
| Communications Planning & Design (48) | 776 | 254 | -522 | -67% |
| Emerging Technologies (55) | 125 | 24 | -101 | -81% |
Sorting and ranking the data shows that the biggest groups of employees in 2000 and in 2011 were as follows:
| 2000 | 2011 | |||||
| Rank | Job Function | No. | % | Job Function | No | % |
| 1 | Analyst Programming (42) | 9515 | 20% | PC Systems/Multi-Skilled C/S (64) | 5692 | 9% |
| 2 | Business Systems (34) | 4723 | 10% | Business Systems (34) | 5037 | 8% |
| 3 | PC Support Centre (67) | 3187 | 7% | Technical Support (60) | 4907 | 7% |
| 4 | Systems Design (36) | 2730 | 6% | Project Management (33) | 4853 | 7% |
| 5 | Programming (44) | 2627 | 6% | Developer (46) | 4379 | 7% |
| 6 | Developer (46) | 2372 | 5% | Help Desk (84) | 3835 | 6% |
| 7 | Technical Support (60) | 2350 | 5% | Analyst Programming (42) | 3418 | 5% |
| 8 | Help Desk (84) | 2151 | 5% | Account Management (80) | 2790 | 4% |
| 9 | Computer Operations (88) | 2150 | 5% | Architecture (54) | 2715 | 4% |
| 10 | Operations Support (82) | 1930 | 4% | Computer Operations (88) | 2671 | 4% |
So while Analyst programming was the star job in 2000, it has now been relegated to seventh place. Top of the table now is PC Systems (ranking 15th in 2000). Business Systems was and still remains in second place.
The shrinking number of analyst programmers is surprising. This could be explained by a lack of new blood coming from universities. According to UCAS, university applications for computer science and IT courses fell from 40,473 in 2011 o 37,367 in 2012. (link)
Over the longer term the number of students taking A level computing has dropped from 27,000 in 2000 to 4,000 in 2010. (link)
Outsourcing could also provide an explanation, with many large employers moving jobs to India and elsewhere to take advantage of cheaper labour costs.
All salary surveys change over time, but IT surveys are more dynamic than most as new technologies and business practices are introduced, and new jobs are created along the way. The most recent addition to the XpertHR survey is Knowledge Management, which gathered data on 135 individuals in our latest report.
Lastly, roles that blend IT functions and non-IT job functions are increasingly common. This makes more difficult to define an IT job.
The Computer Staff Salary Survey is published twice a year in June and December. Published in an unbroken series since 1968, it is a clear market leader with data on more IT professionals and their managers than any similar UK survey and runs from entry level to board level. (link)
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