On many occasions, learning the trends of technology job offers in the job market means reading endless data streams with no understanding of what properly reflects the worker's day to day.
In the following article, we will take a closer look at the trends in the job market for IT activities in Spain from the data, but also from closely understanding the day to day of the worker who has to take decisions on their professional career.We will also show the company's point of view that, often, needs a broader view to make decisions on its IT needs.
1.Basic concepts in the IT sector
It is important to know the differences between the following concepts:
1.1. ICT Sector (acronym of "Information and Communication Technologies")
1.2. IT Activities
1.3. IT Activities within Other Sectors
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1. 1. ICT Sector
According to the Spanish Observatory of Telecommunications and the Information Society (ONTSI), a body of the Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda of the Government of Spain, whose data can be viewed in its “Annual Report of the ICT and Content Sector in Spain 2018” companies in the ICT Sector are those that manufacture and provide ICT services and among which include:
- Trade
- IT activities
- Telecommunications
The companies that make products or provide services in one of these three areas are subject to different trends in terms of the workforce, and of course, they offer different job positions with greater or lesser prospects.
In the following table you can see how the number of companies in the ICT sector that are , specifically dedicated to IT activities is a majority in Spain with 71% compared to the total number of companies in the sector.
Empresas del Sector TIC en España
1. 2. IT Activities
The area of IT Activities, according to the above-mentioned source, includes the following activities:
- Activities related to information technologies and computing
- Computer programming activities
- IT consulting activities
- Repairing communication equipment
- Repairing computers and peripherals
- Managing IT resources
- Editing other computer programmes
- Data processing
- Hosting and related activities
- Editing video games
- Web portals
1.3. IT Activities within “Other Sectors”
If you look closely at the previous section, you can see how IT activities do not have to be exclusively in the ICT Sector, meaning there are IT jobs that are done within other sectors.
This, which may seem obvious, is something that should be highlighted as it seems that we restrict the job spectrum to just the ICT sector, when there are actually many offers and positions for IT activities in other sectors.For example, people managing the IT resources in pharmaceutical companies, professionals processing data in call centres, etc.
IT activities are part of the activities done in the ICT sector, but, to complete the job spectrum in Spain, the IT activities that can be done in any sector should also be taken into account.
2. IT activities in Spain
According to the “Annual Report of the ICT and Content Sector in Spain 2018”, 95.8% of business in the ICT sector in Spain is concentrated in the area of services, so we can say that, without a shadow of a doubt, that Spain is an IT Services country.
Cifras de negocio del Sector TIC en España
Each one of these services, and those we have listed in point 1.2, are not equal in terms of number of companies, and therefore, job positions that they create in Spain.
Specifically and according to the above-mentioned report, job positions in Spain in terms of IT activities were distributed as follows:
Empleo distribuido por actividades informáticas
All these activities have experienced uneven growth rates for years, except for the following activities that are recording a gradual decline:
- Repairing computers and peripherals
- Managing IT resources
- Editing other computer programmes
- Editing video games
In the following table you can see the demand for the number of professionals according to their area of activity:
Persona ocupada por ramas dentro de Actividades Informáticas
3. Does Spain really have very few people employed in IT?
You must have heard that in more than one future analysis that Spain does not have many professionals working in IT activities, and we want to shed some light on this based on the data.
3.1. Worldwide comparison
We will start by creating an overview of the situation, first at a global level and then with a more focused and closer view. First, we will see the position of Europe on a global level in terms of turnover.
Continuing with the analysis from ONTSI 2018 in terms of the data on the ICT and Content Sector in Spain, more than 30% of global turnover corresponds to the United States and Europe comes in second with 21.4%, followed by the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) with 17.8% of business.
Porcentajes de facturación de negocio de las TIC a nivel mundial
3.2. How does Spain rank globally?
If all this seems too abstract, in this table you can see the turnover estimates for Spain worldwide over the next few years. In fact, the estimates are positive. However, these estimates seem somewhat slow when we compare with other countries nearby.
Estimaciones de facturación de negocio de las TIC, detalle España
3.3. Comparison of Spain with Europe
We have just seen that Spain's turnover growth in a global context is positive, but if we look at its rate within Europe we can conclude that currently Spain is below average in Europe with regard to people employed with specialist skills in ICT. In short, the claim that Spain needs more professionals in IT seems to be true.
The 2018 report on the Economy and Digital Society Indicators produced again by ONTSI, establishes some comparison rates between the 28 member countries of the European Union in terms of greater or lesser economic and social development with regard to technology and human capital. From this dossier we can draw the following conclusions:
1.- Spain has a private use and skills very similar to the average with the rest of Europe
2.- Spain has a low level in terms of “people employed with specialist skills in ICT”.Spain is 0.1 points below the European average
3.- Interestingly, and despite the lack of ICT specialists, those who are trained as “Tertiary graduates in science and technology” are higher than the average in Europe.The number of graduates in Spain is higher than Europe by 0.06 points.
Comparación entre Europa y España en cuanto a Capital
Worldwide, and according to the Economy and Digital Society Indicators, in 2018 Spain ranked 14 out of the 28 member countries. But, it dropped two positions compared to 2017 when Spain was number 16. A poor indicator in which other countries have worked hard to increase their ranking.
Resumen de indicadores del estudio donde nos fijamos en la fila “Capital Humano”
3.4. ICT Sector Data in Spain
But, even though other countries around Spain are growing quicker, it does not mean that Spain is stagnating. All the national figures are increasing: number of companies, turnover, number of people employed and investment.
If we look at the data for the number of people registered on Social Security in Spain in recent years, we see that there is a gradual growth and that it accelerates from 2014.
Personal empleado en el Sector TIC y de los Contenidos en España según la Seg. Social
Looking at this graph, it is interesting that this data is offered together with data from the Content sector, and that they include activities related with paper, television, etc.This is because, the digital industry in Spain has developed as another area, meaning, as another format to support content.
This reading of Social Security data is reminiscent of the origins that, to date, should be corrected and offered separately due to the clear differentiation of the industrial fabric in the ICT sector.
3.5. Where are the best work opportunities in IT?
Now we are going to focus on the specific issue on where we can find the best employment opportunities within IT activities. And the data in this field is clear: Madrid and Barcelona are the two cities in Spain with the greatest concentration of positions in this field.
Madrid or Barcelona?
Madrid stands out above Barcelona for a greater number of companies, greater volume of business, greater number of people contracted according to the “Annual Report of the ICT and Contents Sector in Spain 2018” from ONTSI:
- 34% of companies in the ICT sector
- 4% of turnover
- 69% of jobs
This same report puts Catalonia in second place with the following figures:
- 21% of companies from the ICT sector
- 1% of turnover
- 7% of jobs
Cifras de negocio del Sector TIC y Contenidos por Comunidad autónoma y tamaño de empresa. Detalle Madrid - Barcelona
4. Most sought after jobs and salaries in IT
All of the above may make you think that the higher salaries are also in Madrid, but the reality shows that since 2018 the highest salaries are actually in Barcelona and, in some cases, the differences can be substantial.
If we look at the annual study from the group Manpower - Experis IT called Tech Cities, which is focused on finding the salary bands and trends of tech jobs, we see that they show the following jobs as the most in demand as well as their average salaries in Spain.
Puestos más demandado y salarios medios - Tech Cities 2018
This same source details the level of demand in the main regions of Spain.
Puestos fijos más demandados en ofertas publicadas
4. 1. IT positions most in demand
- Systems Administrator
Tasks in the cloud and the recent changes in managing organisation systems means these positions have been in high demand in recent years. And again Madrid and Barcelona have the greatest concentration of these professionals (65% of the total demand).
In terms of average salaries on offer, Barcelona is around €35,000 and Madrid €32,500
- SAP
This trend is in increasing demand, mostly, by large multinationals, although it seems that medium and small sized companies are starting to request this type of profile.
The range of these positions is mainly concentrated in Madrid with 43% of offers and Barcelona with 39%, making a total share of almost 80% of positions in demand.
In terms of salaries, the annual Tech Cities report notes that the difference in annual gross salary can be up to €7,000 - €12,000 compared to other cities.
- DevOps
Its high demand rose in 2017 with a spectacular growth rate of 190%. Again Madrid and Barcelona hold 80% of the job market with 45% and 37% of positions respectively.
- Smart Applications (Mobile)
Mobile development has been transformed in recent years towards a greater specialisation of requirements and versatility in workers. In this case there is no clear concentration of positions with the rest of Spain, but the highest salaries are in Madrid and Barcelona.
- Web Development
Web development is still the area with the highest job prospects, recording increases of up to 200%.
In this case the Madrid/Barcelona concentration is not as strong and they hold a 50% share of the Spanish market, although the highest salaries are found in these two cities.
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Most sought after technologiesWith additional information on web development, in the report from the previous year from Experis IT – Manpower 2017, these were specified as the most sought after technologies:
- J2EE
- Javascript
- Angular
- PHP
- HTML
- .NET
- C#
- UML
- REST
- Node
Other sources such as The Salary Guide from Hays which can be seen updated and online, tell us that these technologies and others are trending such as:Python, Ruby, Perl, Abap 4, etc.
- Cyber Security
As well as national prospects, cyber security is an international trend. In Spain, Madrid accounts for 44% of the labour market and Barcelona 29%. So, the Spanish capital shows a significant difference compared to the rest of the country, but it is important to note that in Barcelona the salaries are slightly higher for this position, despite having less offers.
- Analysts and Data Scientists
Madrid clearly has the most number of jobs in this field with more than 50%, but the salaries in Barcelona are higher, with an average difference of around €2,000 compared to Madrid and up to €9,000 - €12,000 compared to other regions.
5. Training and Experience
We do not want to finish this article without considering two big determining factors when applying for a job opportunity that can impact on the opportunity's salary. We are talking about training and experience.
According to the Report from Infoempleo and Adecco, the data on the most requested candidates in terms of training were:
- 3% of job offers for candidates that are university graduates
- 4% of the job offers, for candidates with vocational training at an intermediate and advanced level
In terms of salaries, this same source shows a large difference in salaries between low skilled profiles which are usually aimed towards more basic or support work.
The salary difference is also clearly evident in terms of the level of the candidate's experience, and the junior/senior distinction would address this level in most cases.
In short and in regard to the latter point, it seems that the best opportunities, even within the boom, are for candidates that are highly trained, specialised and, especially, those with greater experience.
