Many professionals in the IT industry have spent the last 12 months dodging a pink slip, but three years ago companies were still struggling to fill all the available spots.
That fall, the Software
Human Resources Council issued a report that not only illustrated the difficulty in finding the right candidates, but affording them as well. According to the report, salary increases ranged from eight to 19 per cent, well above the national average of three to 3.5 per cent. It was hardly an anomaly, according to the survey. From 1997 to 2000, employees with five or more years of experience have seen their salaries increase from 12 to 34 per cent.
In May of this year, the SHRC released updated data that showed the high premium on high-tech talent hasn’t diminished, but new problems have emerged. Specifically, the report pondered the potential effects autonomic computing strategies might have on the level of human management necessary for some IT systems.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Oracle was starting to get it together.
At its annual OpenWorld user conference, chief executive Larry Ellison announced the integration of its 9i database and Application Server in an effort to offer a single Internet development platform.
Selling 9i as one product rather than component pieces and later add-ons, Ellison said at the time, is the equivalent of when Microsoft bundled its word processor and spreadsheet program into one package and called it Microsoft Office.
During the show, Oracle also released its strategy for creating Real Application Clusters running on a couple of servers. Last month, Oracle advanced this strategy by offering grid computing capabilities in its latest database, 10g.
Over at J.D. Edwards, executives were starting to fear the ERP gravy train was running out.
The company launched OneWorld XE, a suite of some 300 Web-ready applications that included components for e-business portals and project management. The company’s CEO at the time, Ed McVaney, said OneWorld would also offer interoperability with a wide range of vendor partners, which was the only way to clear the integration hurdle.
“”If Oracle had every genius working with Oracle, they wouldn’t need to interface,”” he said. “”Every (company) has geniuses, and that’s why the whole issue of collaboration is so important.””
Of course, following its acquisition by PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards staff may end up working for Oracle after all.
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