We can get some indication of how the global economic downturn is beginning to impact IT salaries from a quarterly report put out by cwjobs.co.uk, a UK recruitment company.

Relative to last year July, IT recruitment (based on the number of advertised jobs) is down in both the permanent job market (by 7.7 percent) and in the contractor market (by nine percent), according to the company. Still, permanent IT jobs up by 11 percent over year ago even though pay levels are stagnating. The rise in the average salary on offer across all permanent jobs was at 0.6 percent, the lowest level this millennium, while contractor pay rates have not budged.

Over the whole market, salaries were down from a year ago in 22 out of the 55 job categories analysed by SSL.

"The parsimonious salary increases are a clear sign that corporate managements are being very careful," cwjobs.co.uk "But there is an upside to that: it is one of the reasons why IT has managed to steer clear of the worst of the economic malaise."

Since investment in IT is one of the major ways companies can reduce costs, the IT profession can grow during downturns as companies pay for more infrastructure and technology.

Another reason not to despair is that the profession is driven by contracts that can last anywhere from three to 10 years. Most clients are loath to cancel contracts mid-term due to the costs involved.

Job boards continue to be the main media for recruiting IT people, according to the survey.

Of course this is a UK survey and so care is needed when attempting to determine the Bermuda market. Still it is an indication of what might be happening.

If you are a UK citizen and are thinking of heading home it might be wise to check the cwjobs.co.uk site beforehand. The site allows you to input your salary demands and skills sets to check how many positions are available, and the going rate. It also has a table of the top IT skills where demand is rising and falling.

***

Golf anyone?

Here is a critical question for IT professional in Bermuda: Does playing golf actually help your career?

Yes, someone has actually done a survey on whether you are wasting your time pretending you like hitting a ball around a gigantic lawn (if you do not actually like the game), or whether it is a springboard to success.

CIO Magazine decided to answer the critical question with a survey about whether playing golf with business peers and corporate partners is critical to your job and found that the answer is a big 'No'.

This puts a much needed hole in the conventional wisdom that playing golf is a means of winning friends in senior management who can help boost your further up the corporate ladder.

The magazine's Golf Networking Survey polled 394 IT industry professionals who identified themselves as golfers (48 percent), non-golfers (34 percent) or those considering taking up the sport (18 percent).

About 55 percent said that the game of golf had helped their careers, while 45 percent said the game had not helped them.

Some of those surveyed even preferred online networking to actually getting their butts out of their chair. They claimed networking opportunities on Internet-based social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook were more useful to them, CIO Magazine stated.

What more, many claimed to have no problems about turning down their supervisor's invitation to the country club or a day out on links paid for by a vendor to the company. They must be a brave lot, especially as 26 percent of respondents said that their decision to not play golf had hurt them professionally.

Those claiming damage most often cited "missed out on networking and relationship building" as the top reason.

As a comparison 73 percent of business executives in the survey said that playing golf has helped their careers, and 93 percent of sales executives said the same.

"In other words, in IT circles, golf skills are perceived as less important to enhancing a career," the magazine stated. "Whereas in business and sales, golfing abilities appear to be a prerequisite skillset."

What do you think? Should you be out on the links instead of sitting before your computer? Let me know and I will include the comments in the next column.

Contact Ahmed at elamin.ahmed@gmail.com