Pale male bias persists

[CHART]Although the sample is overwhelmingly white and male, both the gender and the racial ratios have slightly improved when compared with last year`s sample. Of the 2 977 respondents this year, 25% are non-white (up from 21%) and just over 21% are female (up from 19%). These demographics do not necessarily reflect actual industry ratios.

[CHART]Nearly half (44%) of the respondents have spent up to five years in the IT industry, a further 27% between 6 and 10 years, and as many as 19% have over 15 years of experience in IT. In the age stakes, 67% of the respondents are under the age of 35, 29% of whom are between the ages of 26 and 30.

[CHART]The overall level of education is high, with 35% of the participants holding a university, honours, masters or PhD degree. The number of respondents with matric as their only qualification has dropped from 25% last year to 15%.

However, notwithstanding the high level of education, industry insiders warn that in future, matriculants as well as those with degrees will find it increasingly difficult to enter the IT industry as experience becomes ever more important.

[CHART]The majority of the respondents (87%) are permanently employed, while 10% are contractors, and only 0.6% are unemployed.

A high number of respondents 41% are in the operational management category, while 12% are strategic managers and 46% don`t have anyone reporting to them.

[CHART]The bulk of the techies are engaged in software development (68%), followed by networking services and operations (20%). Considering the importance of IT security, it is surprising that only 1.3% are involved in systems, network or data security. Only 1.5% are involved in Web, e-commerce or e-business - which could be due to the fact that they opted for software development as a broader category. One-third of the respondents work a normal 8-hour day and 27% work 9 hours a day. As many as 17% are putting in 10 hours, and 10% work between 11 and 12 hours a day.

[CHART]The second most represented industry - after the dominant information technology sector (47%) - is banking (12%). Like last year, the respondents are distributed across companies of all sizes, but the two biggest groups are the 20% working for companies with between 11 and 50 staff, and 15% working for corporates with over 5 000 employees.

[CHART]There were no surprises as to where in SA our respondents work: 67% work in Gauteng, with 20% in Western Cape, 6% in KwaZulu-Natal, and the remaining 7% in other provinces.