IT Hiring Up, Budgets A Mixed Bag

According to the Feb 2005 CACM, IT hiring is expected to grow 1st quarter of '05. Hottest talents are networking, information security, and user-support. Firewall admin and wireless network management are particularly hot. On the other hand, IT budgets are a mixed bag, with 50% of corporate budgets increasing expenditures, but a significant number (14% for software, 20% for hardware) are planning "sizeable cuts." Factoid: Senior management chose "wireless applications" as their top "wish list" item. (Middle management wanted increased staff salaries and staff wanted training.)