Articles by Alta

    Back to Articles Listings

    Hang In There: The Recovering IT Job Market

    Joyce Brocaglia and Jeffrey Combs
    Joyce@altaassociates.com



    Is it really as bad as it seems? This is the one question that I have been asked the most over the past three months. The short answer is yes, but there have been recent signs of improvement.

    During the last few years information security professionals have been riding the cresting wave of the economy. Corporations were hiring at a frenzied pace. Growing security consulting and managed services companies were ramping up and building staffs to accommodate the demand for services. Security vendors were emerging at lightening speed. The security bug had bitten the venture capital community and it seemed that money was flowing to anyone that had a security solution and a business plan. Corporate America was continuing to grow and money was spent on technology throughout all of their business lines. This resulted in plenty of opportunities for professionals with security experience. It was a fun ride for everyone while it lasted. The year 2001 brought the reversal of this phenomenon. Disappointing corporate earnings resulted in reduced budgets and less technology spending. Venture capital funding became less available and more expensive resulting in fewer start-ups and IPO’s. The major players in the investment banking community weren’t generating revenue from big deals and it all trickled down. The end result is that corporations were forced to do more with less and employees were sacrificed.

    CISO’s and CTO’s from across the nation with whom my staff and I speak, say that corporations are giving great priority to securing their critical infrastructures. Although 2001 budgets already have been spent, the overwhelming majority says that 2002 budgets for information security initiatives are larger than previous years. They are focusing their efforts on:
    • Concerns about internet security. They are reevaluating the content of their web sites, identifying and eliminating detailed information that may increase their vulnerabilities.
    • Mitigating cyber threats. They are creating specific teams to concentrate on anti-virus and other malware threats.
    • Remote access. They are evaluating the authentication of their users including agents, vendors and employees that all connect to corporate databases from remote locations.
    • Re-evaluating disaster recovery and business continuity plans.
    • Re-evaluating and updating privacy and regulatory compliance issues.
    The consensus is that our clients are focusing on protecting their corporate assets. In order to accomplish this they will be hiring people that understand the workings of their industries, who are technically competent and can create security solutions that allow them to be protected while enabling them to compete effectively. So what’s it going to take to turn this around? A combination of national initiatives, supportive legislation, and increased corporate earnings. We have already seen Tom Ridge appointed to lead homeland security, Richard Clarke named cyber security czar, Congressional approval of an anti-terrorism bill, and consideration of an economic stimulus package with $1 billion dollars set aside for the protection of critical physical and cyber infrastructures.

    We have already begun to see more approved job requisitions, showing a trend toward demand in several job skills:
    • Sales and sales engineers who will provide and support increased revenue streams.
    • Security engineers, who will perform risk assessments, secure web applications and deliver managed services.
    • Security architects who can design enterprise wide solutions.
    The industries that we consider to be the fastest growing are:
    • Managed service providers
    • Defense contractors
    • VPN and remote access solutions, antivirus vendors, biometric companies, and regulatory compliance and privacy consulting

    In my 20 years in recruiting I have lived through many economic ups and downs affecting a variety of job markets. The one truth is that the market is cyclical and a period of rebuilding always follows layoffs and downsizing. Many young security professionals have worked only through the boom years and believed that this euphoria was standard market conditions. By comparison it makes the current market conditions seem even more dramatic. There are many factors that affect the job market. We expect the economy to influence it, however, not in our wildest dreams would we have imagined that terrorism would be one of the factors affecting the likelihood of getting a job. Now, after the tragic events of September 11th security is on the minds of everyday citizens and corporate awareness has never been greater. The IT job market slowly is beginning to show signs of recovery, and we believe that security will be on the leading edge. Hang in there, keep networking, sharpen your professional skills and you’ll be prepared when opportunity knocks.

    Joyce Brocaglia is the founder of Alta Associates, Inc., an InfoSec recruiting firm, and Jeffrey Combs is an executive recruiter with the firm.

    Back to Articles Listings