Ruby developer is the toughest IT vacancy to fill in Australia, according to figures from job site Indeed. Roles requiring ability with the programming language take an average 62 days to fill, according to analysis.
The most in-demand technology job, in terms of listings posted, was software architect, while the biggest skills gap was found to be for senior .net developers.
Figures showed that demand for .net developers was more than 2.5 times the level of jobseeker supply on the site.
In regional Australia, the hardest tech roles to fill were senior system engineer (60 days) and software engineer (52 days).
“As every business morphs into the digital version of itself, the demand for workers with highly technical abilities is increasing far faster than supply. The result is a rapid growth in open, unfilled jobs and increases in salaries for the talent that can fill these roles,” said Chris McDonald, Indeed managing director for ANZ.
Global shortage
The local analysis came after interrogation of the job site’s global data, which found that technology jobs commanded the highest salaries and exposed the biggest skills gap.
By combining the number of job postings, salary level and growth opportunity statistics from all the jobs listed on its sites, Indeed made a list of the top 25 ‘best jobs’.
Seven of the top ten jobs were for software engineers and developers. Some of the highest paying positions ranked in the top ten include full stack developers (#1), data scientists (#2), development operations engineers (#3), Salesforce developers (#6) and cloud engineers (#9).
Data showed a significant supply and demand imbalance. Job seeker interest in software architect job postings for instance, meets only 29.4 per cent of the employer demand while dev ops job postings meet only 39.6 per cent.
"We’re seeing the same trends in Australia in terms of job growth, with demand from employers in some key areas of computer science and technology outstripping the supply of skilled workers,” McDonald said.
An Indeed survey of tech recruiters and hiring managers found that almost 9 in 10 respondents (86 per cent) said they find it challenging to find and hire technical talent, with more than a third (36 per cent) saying they find it “very” challenging.
The results showed that more than half (53 per cent) of respondents hired tech talent despite candidates not meeting job description requirements. By filling the gaps with existing employees, more than a third of surveyed respondents (36 per cent) said the inability to hire a qualified candidate caused burnout in existing employees and affected their business’s bottom line.
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