Plenty more fish in the IT sea

While parts of the local economy are sinking under the pressure of the financial crunch, the IT branch seems like an island in a stormy sea. Not only have there been fewer redundancies, but the impact of the downturn on salaries was low. The software industry has always seen lively recruiting, and this trend has remained constant even during the crisis. Salaries in the industry are sure to rise this year, but will not reach double digit growth.

Otilia Haraga

The average salary growth last year was 5.9 percent, according to the PayWell 2010 study, whose respondents were companies in the IT sector, including those who did not intend to raise pay. In 2011, the salary growth forecast for the IT sector is 7.9 percent, Horatiu Cocheci, manager for HR Services at PwC, tells BR.

Still according to the PayWell study, the net monthly average salary of a junior software developer is EUR 750, while a senior software developer makes EUR 1,650. The net average monthly salary in IT management can range between EUR 1,700 and EUR 2,200.

“Last year we witnessed a discrepancy between the expectations of IT specialists and employers’ tendency to optimize payment costs. Overall, the level of salaries remained relatively constant and the demand for specialists stayed high,” Ariadna Diaconu, professional placement consultant at Manpower Professional, tells BR.

The results of the Manpower study, The Employment Outlook, for the second quarter of 2011 show a positive trend of +5 percent at national level, which means that “employers are anticipating a surge in demand for specialists,” she adds.

Salaries in Romania have soared over the past few years. “I would say on average, in Western countries one can earn from 2.5 to 3 times as much as in Romania in the same position.

Ten years ago, the gap was much greater – eight or even ten times,” Serban Mrejeriu, human resources consultant at AIMS Human Capital Romania, tells BR.

To avoid the loss of personnel and to attract new talent, companies have had to keep salaries attractive. “Of course, we are talking here about positions that require specialization,” Cacina Monica, marketing specialist at BestJobs Recrutare, tells BR. Employees working in entry-level positions and in jobs in small companies, such as IT administrators, are more vulnerable to replacement.

Data from BestJobs shows that a software developer can cash in between EUR 500 and EUR 2,500. Senior software developers earn between EUR 1,000 and EUR 3,500, depending on the size of the company and the location. As the upper end, there are positions of this type that can be paid in excess of EUR 5,000. A project manager can start on EUR 1,500 if working in a small company or in cities outside the capital, but the remuneration can go as high as EUR 7,500.

The basic salary package also comes with additional benefits in some cases, according to candidates and companies. These include company car (in 3 percent of cases), mobile phone (10 percent), laptop (16 percent), insurance (42 percent), meal tickets (62 percent) and other bonuses (31 percent).

Recruitment is made for positions abroad even by very well-known companies. These are the best paid positions, on average in excess of EUR 2,000 plus perks. “A salary package for abroad also includes financial support for relocation, insurance, vacation bonus, transportation, etc.” says Cacina.

In Bucharest, salaries in this field are EUR 1,500 on average while in other large cities such as Iasi, Cluj and Timisoara, they average out at EUR 800. In the Western part of the country, the typical gross monthly salary for a senior software developer is RON 6,711 while a junior developer earns only RON 2,994 per month.

An employee who runs a department and is in charge of a large team of more than 50 people will make on average RON 12,127 gross salary a month, according to the AIMS Salary Map IT Study carried out by AIMS Human Capital.

The study focuses exclusively on the R&D activity in the western part of the country.

“We should keep in mind that we are talking about employees who, for the most part, benefit from tax exemptions, so the net salary they get is pretty close to the gross figure,” says Mrejeriu.

He adds that there are R&D positions where it is very hard to find specialists, for example in ASIC Design in the west of the country. Other positions that require high specialization and are hard to fill are those of experts in the development of mobile applications, Java and C++, BestJobs data shows.

“Recruitment for these niche domains is more difficult since eligible candidates are already in very well paying jobs,” says Cacina.

“I think in the matter of salaries, we should talk in terms of PPI (purchasing power index) in order to be accurate and not compare apples and pears. When we talk in these terms, salaries in Romania are above average, taking into account the scarcity of resources for niche specializations,” Cosmin Bordea, HR lead at Microsoft Romania, tells BR.

In terms of skills, “We are average, neither very good nor very bad,” continues Bordea.

“It would be good if we could encourage IT through sectorial policies. I really believe we can at least grow the weight this industry has in the Romanian economy and this will naturally lead to a growth in the number of employees in this sector. When it comes to skills, educational institutions as well as multinational corporations in the IT sector are strong drivers in the process of shaping them,” he adds.

In this industry, the salary is higher when the candidate is more specialized. “The more specific the demand is, which will also include the knowledge of one or more foreign languages, the higher the salary expectations. What we can affirm is that in IT salary growth is higher than in other fields, and the transition from junior-middle to senior level is based on different criteria, depending on the type of project and the employer’s professional development policy,” says Diaconu.

Pundits in HR think the modifications made to the Labor Code are positive since they match the reality on the market and will encourage companies to create jobs and potential investors to come to Romania.

“I do not think the new Labor Code will bring major harm on employees as everyone fears. Most likely, it will stimulate employers and employments. I would compare the introduction of the new Labor Code with that of the flat tax in 2004: there was much ado and many pessimistic scenarios, but in the end the economy became more dynamic and the benefits were high for everybody, including the state, pensioners and public workers,” says Mrejeriu

In the IT sector, the impact of the new Labor Code will be minimal. “Companies in this field are struggling to employ people, not to lay them off. The consolidation of the limited-period work contracts is very much in accordance with the dynamics of this market where people are working on projects with a limited time span,” adds Mrejeriu.

At a European level, there is very high demand for ICT specialists: for entry-level positions in support centers in developing countries and for senior and management level positions in developed European countries.

“There are roles and specializations for which differences between salaries paid on the Romanian market and on the Western European market are significant, but also other specializations where pay in Romania is more comparable with other European countries,” Gabriel Dragos, professional placement consultant at Manpower Professional, tells BR.

Many a time, multinational companies will select low-cost countries such as Romania, #for the transfer of projects that have come to maturity while the paramount projects that are strategic and require innovation and new technologies are developed in centers with more of a tradition, according to Mrejeriu. “Following this logic, a programmer in the West stands a bigger chance of being involved in important projects. In my opinion, the big games are still in the West, but we have seen more and more cases of companies in Romania that have successfully managed to transfer important projects here,” says Mrejeriu.

otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

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