Indeed, with the abandonment of outdated practices, no more travel needed, the prioritization of developer skills, and the adoption of tech making hiring a better experience for candidates and managers, tech hiring has massively changed.

The report stated that since the outbreak of the pandemic, 42% of organizations have started using developer assessment tools, meaning that developers have more chances of having online coding assessment tools during the hiring process.

Assessment tools can provide unbiased opinions of a developer’s skill, thus recruiters are more likely to use them. Companies that don’t use them usually look for experience and skills in their hiring decisions.

Moreover, recruiters are now using more video interviews as well as collaborative coding tools, allowing candidates and interviewers to work together in real-time. Recruiters will also focus on developers’ soft skills.

The report predicted that companies will be looking for developers skilled in AI and machine learning as well as DevOps, data science, and back end. The hiring process should become more and more automated in order to eliminate any subconscious biases.

Developers looking for a job will also look at health insurance, flexible work hours, and company-sponsored training. They also stated that the best way to upskill is through coding platforms and boot camps.

The report revealed that the hiring process has never been easier due to the pandemic and that it will continue to change throughout 2021.

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Redgate has made a deal with Grupo Babel, a Costa Rican company that already works with Microsoft.

The aim of the partnership is for Grupo Babel to provide the Latin American market with Redgate’s selection of database development tools which allow organisations to effectively embrace the database in their DevOps practices.

The partnership

Grupo Babel has been chosen for its skill set in being able to help customers get more out of their IT infrastructure.

Whilst the British company have spent the past 5 years developing their DevOps practices to create faster speeds of releases through building on its development databases.

Esteban Oviedo Blanco, Grupo Babel CEO, has commented on the partnership. Saying: “Many digital transformation initiatives have a database at the back end supporting front-end applications, and customers now want to include it in their DevOps plans. We’ve been looking for a way to help them do that and Redgate’s portfolio of Microsoft and Oracle solutions make it the perfect vendor to partner with.”

The rise of tech in Latin America

Many people don’t realise how quickly Latin America is expanding in the technology world . It’s thought that by 2022, over half of Latin American GDP will be made digital. Adding to this, IDC predicts that by next year, ICT spending in this part of the world will grow to a huge US$34 billion.

The digital transformation in Central and South America is one that people need to watch. One reason why Redgate chose to work with Grupo Babel is the way that they stand out through being 100% cloud-based.

Cass Lloyd, Redgate Partnerships and Alliances Manager, spoke of the company’s excitement to be working with the Costa Rican firm by saying: “In Europe and North America, new projects often have to work around and work with the large legacy infrastructures in place. In Latin America, the IT footprints are typically smaller, so businesses can introduce the very latest DevOps practices faster and easier.”

Redgate is now continuously looking for more partners in Latin America to grow its DevOps community.

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The New Zealand recruitment firm, Hays, questioned 900 employers as part of their annual Hays Salary Guide.

As well as DevOps employees, the survey also found that civil engineers, sales people, and construction managers were also highly sought after, with 49% saying that those looking to improve permanent staffing levels look towards these sectors.

53% of those interviewed believe that technical skills are the most important when it comes to effectiveness in a company. 47% think that the most desirable skills are industry-specific and 30% thought that managerial abilities are most significant.

Just 25% of people think digital dexterity was the most valuable attribute to have and 26% thought it to be development.

Adam Shapley, managing director of Hays in New Zealand says, “Labour supply has been an ongoing issue across New Zealand for some time, so with employers telling us they want to continue adding to their headcount in the next few months, highly skilled professionals will be in high demand and can access strong career-advancing opportunities,”

Of those questioned, 81% considered the lack of these qualifications to impact on the effectiveness of operations at their business.

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Global executive search firm, Odgers Berndtson, has disclosed that average salaries for women leaders in the technology sector have moved ahead of men for the first time.

The finding was disclosed in a global study of almost 1,000 executive searches for top roles in technology, which the firm has carried out since 2015. During this time both the women’s share of top commercial roles, and their earnings, doubled – with average salaries for women exceeding those for men for the first time in 2018.

However, the study also shows that significant challenges remain for women in many areas of technology, notably across specialist roles.

Mike Drew, head of the global technology practice at Odgers Berndtson, said: “We are delighted with the progress made over the past five years for women in top commercial roles with global technology companies. We hope this is just the start of far greater diversity, which our mentoring initiative aims to accelerate.”

At the end of last year, the Hampton-Alexander Review, backed by the government, reported that the number of women on FTSE 100 boards has exceeded 30% for the first time, but in smaller companies and executive roles there is still much to do. Its aim is to achieve a third of women on boards of all FTSE 350 companies by 2020.

Some industry functions and sectors, however, including technology, face particular challenges. Tech UK, a membership body representing the UK technology sector, has noted that overall only 17% of the those working in technology roles are female.

At the leadership level, numbers of women are lower still, recently estimated at around 9% globally and 5% in the UK.

The extent of this challenge, and progress made in the past five years across top roles, is detailed in the Odgers Berndtson Women Leaders in Technology Study. The firm has analysed almost 1,000 of its own executive searches across both commercial roles in the technology sector and specialist technology roles across all companies since 2015.

It reveals that:

• Average pay differentials for women placed by Odgers Berndtson in top commercial roles in the technology sector have almost disappeared in the past five years, with average salaries for top female executives rising from £122,000 in 2013 (less than half the male average) to £330,000 in 2018. This put average salaries for women in top commercial roles at technology companies ahead of those for men for the first time
• Since 2015 women almost doubled their share of leadership placements in technology companies from 11% to over 20% of appointments
• Men still dominate the most highly-paid technology leadership roles in general. Women, however, are narrowing the gap, particularly in placements of commercial leaders in the technology sector
• In the technology function, for leadership roles including Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer, men still dominate both in numbers and earning power, with significantly higher salary packages
• The number of women successfully placed as technology leaders is increasing, nonetheless. The Odgers Berndtson study shows women placed in top technology roles like CIO and CTO almost doubled from 9% to 17% of total placements in 2018.

“The gender gap in functional technology roles is not closing as quickly as we might hope,” said Caroline Sands, head of the CIO and technology officers practice at Odgers Berndtson. “Although the most talented female technologists are now more likely to reach the top, in many specialist areas there won’t be gender parity until fundamental concerns of younger women over culture are addressed.”

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• UK tech companies indicate loss of momentum in the final quarter of 2018
• Business activity expands at slowest pace since Q4 2015
• Tech sector much more upbeat than the rest of the UK economy regarding business outlook in 2019

UK technology sector growth cools

The tech sector experienced a difficult end to 2018, as business activity growth eased to its weakest for three years and new work remained subdued. Global trade frictions and Brexit-related uncertainty were widely reported to have acted as a headwind to client spending.

At 52.4 in Q4, the KPMG UK Tech Monitor Index – which measures the strength of business activity across the sector – remained above the crucial 50.0 no-change value, which continued the upward trend signalled since the summer of 2012.

However, the latest reading was down from 54.0 in Q3 and pointed to the slowest rate of tech sector business expansion since Q4 2015.

Tech companies also signalled the sharpest fall in backlogs of work for seven years, suggesting a lack of new work to replace completed projects at the end of 2018.

UK technology sector hiring slows from peak

Some tech companies have responded to subdued business investment across the wider economy by putting the brakes on staff hiring at the end of last year.

While employment numbers continued to rise overall in Q4, the rate of growth continued to soften from a survey-record high seen at the start of 2018.

Higher wages drive up costs in Q4

Operating expenses continued to rise sharply at tech firms, albeit at a weaker pace than the record highs seen in 2017. Difficulties filling vacancies pushed up staff costs, while exchange rate depreciation fuelled input cost pressures for dollar denominated purchases.

Business outlook remains upbeat

Looking ahead to 2019, there are positive signs in the latest report. While tech firms report that projections for demand growth have softened, they remain highly upbeat about their capital expenditure plans.

A strong record of R&D spending continues to drive confidence regarding new product launches, according to survey respondents. Some suggest that a competitive boost from the weak pound will help achieve new export sales.

Tech businesses appear set to remain a strong engine of job creation. Almost half of the survey panel expect to boost workforce numbers, while less than one-in-ten forecast a fall.

Tech sector employment plans are far stronger than that reported by the UK private sector as a whole, which are now the lowest since Q1 2013.

Bernard Brown, vice chair at KPMG UK said: “Our survey reveals that political uncertainty has dented client confidence contributing to a slowdown in growth at the end of last year. But, buoyant staff hiring and capital expenditure plans are still in place for 2019. This confidence is reflected in the statistic that almost 50% of UK tech firms intend to add jobs over the next year, whilst many traditional manufacturers are considering moving jobs offshore. This demonstrates the strength and resilience of the UK tech sector in the new digital economy.”

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Rapid7 powers the practice of SecOps by delivering shared visibility, analytics and automation that unites security, IT and DevOps teams. Headquartered in Boston, Rapid7 serves more than 7,100 customers in 120+ countries, including 55% of the Fortune 100.

Cloud contact centre solution

Rapid7 selected NewVoiceMedia’s cloud contact centre solution for its integration with the organisation’s CRM system, which will enable the service team to instantly access customer engagement histories and personalise each interaction.

With service agents located around the globe, Rapid7 is also leveraging NVM’s global call routing architecture, Global Voice Assurance.

It will allow the service team to manage its resources across the globe as a single entity, reducing customer wait times while ensuring reliable call quality and service availability for calls in remote regions.

‘Customisable reporting features’

The NVM Platform will also provide a real-time window into Rapid7’s entire support operation, with automatic call logging, recording and customisable reporting features that will allow the support team to understand where improvement opportunities exist.

“Rapid7 is deeply committed to providing our customers with a personalised and exceptional experience every time they interact with our organisation, our products, and our services”, says Rajeev Jaswal, CIO at Rapid7.

“We needed a reliable cloud contact centre solution that would integrate seamlessly with our CRM, and, NewVoiceMedia met those needs”.

Written from press release by Leah Alger

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Prover of visual management platform for agile teams and organisations, Targetprocess, and software developing training firm, Net Objectives, announced its strategic partnership to enable both companies to provide integrated solutions uniquely tailored to mid-sized enterprises.

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Founded in 2004, Targetprocess provides an agile management platform that enables its customers to visualise work across the organisation, identify bottlenecks and make informed decisions about what to prioritize in the business.

Leavitt brings more than 20 years’ of experience building B2B software companies, including AlchemyAPI, which was acquired by IBM Watson; Rally Software, which had its IPO in 2013 on the NYSE and was later acquired by CA Technologies and Insightful Corporation, which was acquired by TIBCO.

In his prior roles, Leavitt has led product management and marketing, and driven sales organisations, partner networks and go-to-market efforts for a string of venture-backed software startups.

“Richard is an experienced leader in business management and a trusted expert in how companies build and manage software products,” comments Andrey Mihailenko, co-founder of Targetprocess.

“We look forward to his insights, and will lean on his knowledge in sales, marketing and technology as we continue to scale.”

Targetprocess also raised US$5million Series A in May 2018, in part to speed its growth of sales, marketing and customer support in North America.

Written from press release by Leah Alger

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This enhanced partnership aims to give customers more choice, by offering all the benefits of remote peering to the most popular internet exchanges in North America and Europe.

Customers will be able to have access to all major IXPs via a single port and enjoy transit that’s optimised for cost and network routes.

The partnership also demonstrates IX Reach’s dedication to supporting the growth of eStruxture as its market share in advanced network and interconnection services continue to expand in both the Canadian and global business marketplace.

‘State-of-the-art data centres’

The IX Reach platform enhances eStruxture’s Cloud Connect service, a network and cloud-neutral exchange that allows customers to connect securely, easily and directly from the company’s state-of-the-art data centres to an extensive ecosystem of major cloud service providers, network and application providers.

“Our partnership with IX Reach is hugely valuable to us and augments our ever-growing ecosystem of carriers and cloud services. Our customers are able to avoid open networks by connecting directly to hyper-scale cloud providers and benefit from increased speed and security and lower latency,” says Todd Coleman, CEO of eStruxture.

“The leading elastic interconnect platform provided by IX Reach enables customers to securely access major peering points and a rich portfolio of products and services such as hyper-scale cloud providers, SaaS providers and partners, via a single connection.”

Continuing to set IX Reach apart from other network solution providers is its strong partnerships with major Cloud Service Providers: Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure.

Written by Leah Alger

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Hortonworks stores and scores big data on Hadoop and supplies customers with a fully provisioned, cloud-enabled environment for analytics and data management.

Together, they have increased HDP among enterprises and developed IHAH which is available through IBM Cloud and integrated into Big SQL, DSX and HDP.

“The IBM and Hortonworks partnership provides customers with an integrated, open data platform to run big data and cognitive workloads. Combining Hortonworks connected data platforms, IBM data science experience, and the IBM machine learning platform helps customers achieve desired analytic results faster and at scale,” says Hortonworks blog post.

“Experience solution bundles that give customers a better way to manage their data. See the new IBM Hadoop platform that’s fully integrated with IBM’s data science and machine learning platform. In addition, with this platform, IBM power systems and spectrum scale storage customers also benefit from fast access to data and lower cost.”

IBM Power Systems AC922 solutions and servers have also, finally, achieved artificial intelligence (AI).

Written by Leah Alger

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