Mobile Talent in Short Supply as Employers Seek to Fill Jobs

Technology companies are running up against a dearth of qualified developers to create applications for mobile devices, according to a survey by online job board Dice Holdings Inc.

Almost 57 percent of employers and outside recruiters that hired for mobile-related jobs this year plan to boost such hires in the next 12 months, the survey, conducted on behalf of Bloomberg Businessweek.com, showed. More than half the respondents described the supply of quality mobile-software designers and engineers as “scarce.”

Companies need app developers as the market for mobile software surges to $17.5 billion by 2012, from $4.1 billion last year, according to a study by Chetan Sharma Consulting. The demand for programmers who can write for mobile platforms, such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone, Google Inc.’s Android and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry, has stoked competition among recruiters, driven up salaries and led employers to consider getting new talent through acquisitions.

Small Rise

The online survey, conducted Oct. 11-15, was based on 283 recruiters who use New York-based Dice’s site and said they had hired mobile professionals this year. Dice sells services to businesses who recruit employees through its site.

More than a fifth of respondents said they hired substantially more mobile experts this year than last year, and more than a third said they added slightly more. Some 36 percent hired about the same number, while 6.6 percent said mobile hiring fell this year.

In the next 12 months, a fifth of recruiters anticipate a substantial increase in hiring, 37 percent see a slight increase, and 34 percent plan to hire about the same number.

The most common salary range for mobile engineers and designers was $75,001 to $100,000, according to 41 percent of respondents. About 28 percent said average pay was $100,001 to $125,000, while 21 percent said it was $50,001 to $75,000.

Higher Salaries

Almost a third of employers raised salary levels for the average mobile worker “higher than normal,” citing the increase in demand for talent.

Experience with Apple’s mobile platform carried the most weight on resumes, with 72 percent of recruiters saying they are hiring for development of iPhone applications, and 38 percent saying iPhone expertise is the most attractive among platforms.

“Anybody that has an application that has been working on a notebook now wants that to work on an iPad, an iPhone and on Google Android,” said Todd Thibodeaux, chief executive officer of the trade group Computing Technology Industry Association in Oak Brook, Illinois.

He described the supply of qualified talent as “scant.” “There’s a whole bunch of specialties that have to develop and emerge there,” Thibodeaux said.

Android Software

About 60 percent are hiring for Android development, and 23 percent said new recruits with knowledge of Google’s platform is most highly prized. Some 48 percent of employers are hiring for BlackBerry, while just 16.1 percent said that’s the most desirable type of mobile expertise.

This month, Dice’s site had 758 job listings requiring skills or experience with the iPhone, up from 264 a year ago. The site had 685 listings requiring Android skills, up from 158.

“If you look at jobs that require either iPhone skills or Android skills, the number of jobs is still pretty small, but if you look at the growth rate, it’s huge,” said Tom Silver, senior vice president at Dice.

Mobile was described as one of the top three priorities in technology hiring by 35 percent of employers. A year from now, as more businesses incorporate mobile technology, Silver predicts that number will be closer to 50 percent.

The vast majority of employers, or 95 percent, said mobile hiring was either competitive or extremely competitive.

Overseas Demand 

That competition has intensified partly because of increased demand for talent in other countries, especially India and China, said Russell Hancock, CEO of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a San Jose, California-based group formed by business leaders to focus on talent-pool concerns in the region.

While programmers and other skilled workers from India and China have had a significant presence in technology companies during the Internet boom, “in the past decade, that has tailed off significantly,” Hancock said.

Some businesses are resorting to acquisitions. About half of the respondents plan to add mobile-software expertise by buying companies in the next 12 months.

Other companies have learned to be more flexible in their hiring. Jeremy Stoppelman, co-founder and CEO of local-business reviews site Yelp Inc., said he began recruiting engineers talented enough to learn and adjust to new types of mobile platforms.

“If you’re doing searches for people with iPhone experience, it isn’t going to be a deep pool of people,” Stoppelman said. “We just look for good engineers.”

Blackberry Business Application Development – The Next Big Thing?

It's enough to look around and see the booming increase of mobile phones and handheld computers; almost everyone has at least one cellular device, if not more. Increased simplicity has caused 'premium'-featured models to be introduced to the 'entry-level' customers. Today business-people actively perform functions on mobile devices that were formerly reserved for laptops or netbooks.

Netbook sales took off over the past few years, and for good reason: these tiny, light computers were tailor-made for the mobile user who increasingly performed most office-related activity online. Netbooks provide some of the convenience and functionality of a full-fledged notebook while weighing less than half of even the lightest units and boasting battery life that can in some cases take you through an entire day without recharging.

But many netbook users quickly bump up against the limitations built in to this form factor. Screens are cramped, and processors are barely adequate for running Windows. In addition, a notebook computer - even if tiny and lightweight - is still a notebook computer, requiring you to stash it, and the inevitable accessories, in some bag that you have to carry around with you.

Evidence of the mobile craze is everywhere. According to a survey by Synovate, a global marketing and research firm, 70 percent of users surveyed in 11 global markets use their hand held mobile devices for non-voice data applications and one-third use them to access the Internet.

According to Dataquest estimates, the total market size of enterprise mobile applications in India stood at Rs 560 crore in FY 09, up from Rs 347 crore in FY 08 a growth of 61%.

Mobile application development is a huge boom in the technology sector. These applications have expanded the use of wireless technology immensely. The new developing applications have bought the revolutionary changes in the use of mobile phones.

Competition is getting tough day by day with ever changing technology and increasing demands for more advance applications, innovation in this field is key to success. Several companies have entered in the field of development of mobile applications and they are introducing the latest apps based on the new technologies with ever increasing benefits.

A reputable web application development company that specializes in software application development can develop mobile applications to integrate your business transactions through mobile or wireless devices and content delivered systems. A mobile application developer with a solid background in project analysis, documentation, test plotting, and project maintenance can help you on the way to your making revolutionary mobile applications.

Business Mashups, a software development company headquartered in the the city beautiful, Chandigarh, is extending its software development services and this time for the latest BlackBerry platform.

Business Mashups has been one of the pioneers on the IT market to offer bespoke software development services using web technologies. Among the most requested solutions are business applications and sophisticated web-based systems. No matter what type of business need it is, Business Mashups leverages industry standards from HTML to AJAX, works alongside with Eclipse, NetBeans, and Java Development Environments.

The BlackBerry product line, created by Research in Motion (RIM), includes handsets and software both for individuals and businesses. The integration of smartphones and software provides advanced access to emails, notes, tasks, contacts, and many more.

With all the mobile platforms targeting their app store towards average consumer, enterprise mobile applications market in India has still not reached a critical mass, but is gaining momentum.

Business use of mobiles requires a different set of features, namely strong email support, web browsing, a good screen, software support and local connectivity options.

Blackberry was created with business use in mind. Blackberry wins for business use and security. Besides its e-mailing and call functions, blackberry developers have now provided applications to make the Blackberry a handy asset to both the small and medium sized businesses. The access to various third-party applications for the Blackberry has made it a vital toll in today’s business environment.

Business Mashups has long identified with the trend by providing offshore blackberry development services. Our experts can create appealing applications over different BlackBerry OS Platforms. Whether you need BlackBerry Apps Development for Store, business automation application, sales force automation, transaction management or intranet applications such as executive MIS on mobile, CRM,etc, we have a team of qualified hands to meet your blackberry mobile application development under your budget and timelines.