Find your niche for fatter pay

By VIKKI BLAND

Glance at the IT recruitment pages of any national newspaper and you'd be forgiven for thinking the only jobs up for grabs are those requiring proficiency in Microsoft products and technologies.

While Microsoft does dominate the business and consumer IT market, those who take the trouble to acquire IT skills outside of the Microsoft set may find they receive a bigger pay packet at the end of the month.

Steve Gillingwater, manager IT recruitment for international recruitment consultants Robert Walters, says not only can he almost guarantee to place someone with five years' experience on the Unix operating platform in a job; they would be paid more than someone with comparable Microsoft experience.

"There are good job prospects and salaries for people with strong Unix skills; there are simply fewer of these people, so they're worth more," he says.

Gillingwater says while it's possible to work and survive without ever acquiring Microsoft skills, it's rare for IT candidates to overlook Microsoft altogether.

"If my son came to me and said he wanted to get into IT, the first thing I would tell him is to become Microsoft certified. Having said that, there's still strong demand for people skilled in certain other platforms; these include all flavours of Unix and mid-range systems such as [IBM's] AS/400 and MVS."

Gillingwater says he recently placed a thirtysomething job candidate in an MVS role.

"He'd been trained locally, worked locally, but had gained valuable experience working on MVS platforms overseas."

Beyond Microsoft, Unix and mid-range systems, IT job seekers may also like to give some thought to the Linux platform.

"Its growth is slow, but Linux skills will become more popular; there will be a demand in the future. And someone who knows Linux can usually work with Unix," says Gillingwater.

If Linux is coming, and Microsoft is obviously in, what platforms are on their way out?

Gillingwater says IT recruiters have noticed a sharp decline in demand for skills in the Novell network operating system in recent years. People skilled in the Lotus office application suite are also rarely sought.

So what about Microsoft's old arch rival - the Apple Mac platform?

Paul Johnston, managing director for Renaissance Corporation (an exclusive Apple distributor in New Zealand for 20 years), says Renaissance has seen a surge in the number of people wanting to train on Apple Mac hardware and the Mac operating system.

"There are several hundred certified Apple [engineers] in New Zealand, but there's still a shortage and new people tend to be snapped up," says Johnston.

He says Renaissance is processing around 20 trainees a month; three-quarters are re-certifying their Apple qualifications and four to five are new.

"Apple skills are particularly good in a mixed platform environment because Apple training is quite intense. Because the latest version of the Mac operating system has also moved to Unix, trainees get a good Unix grounding. This in turn gives them the opportunity to work on Linux in the future," he says.

Johnston says Apple candidates need to be solid performers of fairly high graduate calibre or have natural ability.

To narrow the field, Renaissance pre-tests its applicants. Those who qualify move to the basic Apple course which is comprised of a period of self study followed by 10 days of on-site training. From there, trainees migrate to other course levels at a cost of around $3500 to progress to the top level.

But are Apple skills employable? While Gillingwater says Apple skills aren't often requested in business, Johnston says Apple-certified people are employed in sales, strategy and project management roles.

"There are also the [traditional] Apple industries: legal firms, graphic arts, press and publishing, architecture, media houses and television studios," he says.

Johnston says the Mac platform is "huge" in the education sector, but agrees with Gillingwater that IT candidates will find it easier to secure a corporate role if they have mixed platform skills.

"From an engineering point of view, Apple technicians don't need Microsoft skills. But there are fewer chances of securing a corporate position with only Mac skills."

Gillingwater says IT positions do not have to be overtly technical and candidates may have success in project management and business analyst roles that do not require in-depth software skills.

"When clients look for business analysts, they don't ask for people experienced with certain platforms or technologies. They ask for people who are good with methodology and processes," he says.

Those who dare to be different and strike out into non-Microsoft waters may find their IT niche there.