October has seen a slight drop of 3 per cent in the number of IT jobs advertised on Trademe while Seek ICT job adverts have increased marginally for the second month in a row, up 2 per cent. Auckland rose 7 per cent this month after a four month decline, down by 16 per cent from a May peak. Big data is big news. The NZ government has tasked a new think tank, the Data Futures Partnership, with looking at how huge pools of data could be linked together and shared by private and public sectors. With IBM predicting that 4.4 million IT jobs will be created globally to support big data by 2015 the potential for future demand for IT specialist roles in big data is enormous. Currently in NZ the roles of data analytics, software engineers and project managers dominate the Seek ICT big data job adverts. Given the rising demand for skilled ICT employees, especially in the role of data analytics, it will require a significant effort by all concerned; government, tertiary institutes, and industry, to address this anticipated demand and to ensure the success of big data projects.

1. 1
ICT Trends – Big Data
Data Futures
Last month’s ICT trends article focussed on a global shortage of IT specialists, highlighted in a USA-
based ranking of the most difficult top ten positions to fill, which included big data analytics ranked
at number six. Big data is generally described as a large or complex data set that makes traditional
data processing applications inadequate and provides challenges for the capture, storage, analysis,
data curation, visualisation, and privacy of information. Big data has featured in several recent
articles and news items where the issue has been considered from a variety of viewpoints, including
the growth in demand for IT specialists in New Zealand and in Australia, as well as further afield.
According to IBM, in its Infographic ‘The 4 V’s of Big Data’;
 By 2015 4.4 million IT jobs will be created globally to support big data, with 1.9 million in the
United States.
 By 2020 40 Zettabytes (43 Trillion Gigabytes) of data will be created, an increase of 300
times from 2005
And an MIT Technology Review article reinforces the view that no area of human endeavour or
industrial sector will be immune from the incredible shakeup that’s about to occur as big data
ploughs through society, politics, and business.
In New Zealand the government has formed a new think tank, referred to as the Data Futures
Partnership, which has been tasked with looking at how huge pools of data could be linked together
and shared by private and public sectors. Before that can happen, given that today’s rules governing
big data are inadequate for protecting privacy, new regulations to govern the protection and privacy
of big data will need to be created. This brings us back to the global demand for IT specialists and, in
particular, for workers skilled in big data analytics.
In an ITWire article, the managing director of Greythorn Australia, Richard Fisher, states that
Australia is set to embark on its biggest structural change in decades with the slowdown from a
mining-based boom to a more services-based growth economy. Significant retraining will be
required to meet the current shortage of skilled workers to undertake IT projects involving data
analytics, and other contemporary technologies, if projects are to succeed.
Recent demand in NZ for big data job roles is illustrated in figure 1.
NZ Big Data Job Roles
Figure 1 illustrates a range of big data job roles, based on a filtered search of the Seek ICT adverts
classified in this category. The requirement for analytics dominates the big data job roles, with
numbers almost double the next most in demand role for software engineers. Following the trends
for these big data roles over the next 12 months, to see whether demand reflects the predicted
exponential growth in data volumes, will be an interesting exercise.
Fig. 1 Seek ICT Job Adverts – Big Data Roles

2. 2
Seek ICT Job Adverts
Seek ICT job adverts for October recorded a small monthly increase of 2 per cent, as anticipated
(Fig.2). This is a substantial 17.7 per cent below the October 2014 figure of 2509. In the latest MBIE
jobs online report, IT vacancies for September fell, down 0.9 per cent and, over the year to
September, down 14.8 per cent (Down 21 per cent, based on the September ICT Trends article
figures).
Fig.2 Seek ICT Job Adverts Monthly Trends 2010 –2015 (October)
Trademe IT job adverts for October (Fig. 3) have decreased by 3 per cent for this month, with the
total of 893 jobs advertised representing a 27.4 per cent drop on the October 2014 figure.
Fig.3 Seek ICT & Trademe IT Job Advert Trends to October 2015

3. 3
The number of Seek ICT job adverts for Auckland rose this month by 7 per cent after declining 16 per
cent over four months from a peak of 1364 in May. Wellington continued its downward slide with a
drop of 2 per cent this month, adding to a fall of 14.5 per cent since the June peak of 601 job
adverts.
Fig.4 Seek ICT Job Advert Trends Monthly Change for October 2015
Figure 5 provides a detailed record of the Seek ICT job advert trends by region for the year to
September.
Fig.5 Seek ICT Job Advert Monthly Trends to October 2015
Conclusion
October has seen a slight drop of 3 per cent in the number of IT jobs advertised on Trademe while
Seek ICT job adverts have increased marginally for the second month in a row, up 2 per cent.

4. 4
Auckland rose 7 per cent this month after a four month decline, down by 16 per cent from a May
peak.
Big data is big news. The NZ government has tasked a new think tank, the Data Futures Partnership,
with looking at how huge pools of data could be linked together and shared by private and public
sectors. With IBM predicting that 4.4 million IT jobs will be created globally to support big data by
2015 the potential for future demand for IT specialist roles in big data is enormous.
Currently in NZ the roles of data analytics, software engineers and project managers dominate the
Seek ICT big data job adverts. Given the rising demand for skilled ICT employees, especially in the
role of data analytics, it will require a significant effort by all concerned; government, tertiary
institutes, and industry, to address this anticipated demand and to ensure the success of big data
projects.
News Bytes: A to Z
Australia – ITWire: ‘Shocking levels’ of age discrimination in IT, says recruiter
There’s currently a real lack of skilled workers in modern technology, in particular security, mobility,
data analytics and cloud-based software.
India – IndiaRealTime (Blog): What IT professionals earn around the world
Average annual salaries in India for those working at this level (mid-career) are $41,213 compared
with $42,689 in China and $132,877 in the U.S. which was the fourth best-paying country for those
in the IT field.
NZ – NZ Herald Technology: Finding ways to dive into Big Data
Big Data is considered a key part of social reform. Eventually, it will predict those most likely to
suffer social ills as children, those educationally deprived, and those in households where violence is
most likely to emerge.
NZ – Slideshare: ICT Trends – Critical Demand
Several global headlines over recent months have highlighted a shortage of IT specialists, especially
in the domain of IT security.
NZ – Stuff.co.nz/Technology: More women needed for IT industry
NZ Tech estimates shortfall of more than 10,000 skilled Kiwi IT staff over next 3 yrs.
NZ – Stuff.co.nz/Technology: The digital divide persists in NZ (Professor Miriam Lips; Chair in e-
Government at Victoria University of Wellington)
Research shows continuing divides between 'digital-rich' and 'digital-poor' people in New Zealand
society
UK (Scotland) – Scotsman.com: Martin Brown: Tackling tech skills shortages
IT and digital tech sector employs 73,000 people and accounts for around 3 per cent of the
economy.
USA – ComputerWorld: IoT will become a matter of life or death for security pros
The shift towards the IoT is the biggest challenge ever faced by IT in terms of security.
USA – IBM: The 4 V’s of Big Data (Infographic)
By 2015 4.4 million IT jobs will be created to support big data.
Zambia – BDLive: Tech University set to address ICT skills shortage
We Think Code — which is due to open in 2016 — is offering those between the ages of 17 and 35
the chance to take part in a comprehensive two-year course in coding at no cost.