IT Security Is the New Boom Industry

IT security specialists are in hot demand according to a recent employment index by online job search site SEEK. Due to a steady growth of the information and communications technology sector many new job ads have sprung up particularly in the eastern states. Only in February SEEK reported that job ads for computer security experts were up 57 per cent compared to the same time last year.

ICT: Strong Growth Sector

Overall the whole Information & Communications Technology (ICT) industry remained buoyant experiencing 10 per cent year on year growth compared to February 2016. Apart from the booming sector of security specialists ads for technical writers – those who produce easily accessible and digestible content for printed and online documents, such as user guides, manuals, intranet and website pages – increased by 47 per cent and ads for product managers and developers by 42 per cent.

SEEK Employment Managing Director, Michael Ilczynski, said that, at a state level, the growth in job ads in the ICT sector reflected the overall health of the employment market nationwide. “Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland, ACT and New South Wales all experienced double digit growth in ICT job ads. New South Wales which has the largest number of opportunities advertised increased by 10 per cent year on year. There are now over 7,500 ICT jobs advertised through New South Wales, which is fantastic for those looking for work in that industry.”

Western Australia, however, couldn’t follow the booming market in the eastern states, maybe no wonder, given that the struggling mining industry has caused the employment numbers to plummet and amongst them ICT roles as well.

“It’s likely that businesses don’t have the resources to go ahead with new IT infrastructures or projects, which is having a direct reflection on their hiring needs,” said Mr Ilczynski.

Cloud Computing Contributes to Higher Demand

Overall, however, the outlook is more than positive. According to Mark Nielsen, APAC CEO of global IT recruitment specialist Talent International, the increase in IT security job listings can be attributed to sophisticated artificial intelligence and the unprecedented uptake of cloud computing over the past 12 months by Australian businesses, fuelling a demand for specialists to keep networks secure.

“There has been a significant increase in the way governments, businesses and people rely on technology and mobility as well as the rapid expansion of cloud computing, and as a result, IT security is one of the fastest growing areas we are seeing in the industry today,” he said. “It is now more important than ever to be able to anticipate the level of sophistication possible when it comes to cybercrimes.”

Banks Major Employer for Security Specialists

According to a recent News Corp report banks are one of the major employers of cyber security professionals, and Commonwealth Bank is so concerned about a potential talent shortage that it’s invested $1.5 million on an online degree programme.

This so called Security Engineering Partnership (or “Sec. Edu”) is run in partnership with the University of NSW and is designed to help build an army of white-hat hackers that can stand up and battle against cyber-attacks, identify theft, malware intrusions, trojans, bots, and other malicious pieces of software.

Read more on:

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/careers/computer-security-is-a-booming-industry/news-story/92c22b1940df4490ddd88707cb75ff69

http://www.seek.com.au/investor/news-media