Over half of UK IT professionals expect a pay rise in 2015

IT pros are more likely to stay in their current job if they have a clear career path and can see an investment in the IT department, finds the IT Job Board

Over half (56 per cent) of UK IT professionals in permanent jobs expect a pay rise in 2015, according to a poll by the IT Job Board, which surveyed 900 IT professionals in the UK.

The majority (59 per cent) of permanent IT employees saw an increase in their salary in their last review, with 40 per cent seeing no change, and one per cent unlucky enough to receive less than they had earned previously.

Nearly a fifth (18 per cent) either declined to comment or said that they didn't know what would happen in their next review.

Most IT professionals who responded to the survey were earning between £20k and £40k (43 per cent), followed by the £40k-£60k bracket (29 per cent). Eleven per cent of permanent employees surveyed earned between £60k and £80k, with seven per cent earning £80k or more. A tenth of those surveyed had an annual gross income of less than £20k.

IT professionals say salary is one of the most important factors when choosing a new job, with over a quarter (26 per cent) citing it as the main factor. The most important factor, however, was being given challenging tasks (34 per cent), followed by clear career opportunities (26 per cent). Location, high degrees of responsibility, culture and flexibility were also cited as important considerations.

The survey found that IT professionals rank pensions, private healthcare, provision of a laptop and flexible working hours highest among the benefits they receive.

Nearly half (48 per cent) said that a clear career path is what would keep them in their current business. Other popular reasons for staying were strong overall business performance (20 per cent) and investment in the IT department (17 per cent).

The IT Job Board also revealed the top IT skills searched for on its website by IT professionals - with business analyst, project manager and Java the most searched for items, while employers' top three searches were Java, SAP and PHP.

The survey asked IT professionals where they could be found on social media platforms excluding LinkedIn. The largest chunk (47 per cent) said Facebook, followed by Twitter (26 per cent), StackOverflow (10 per cent), Github (7 per cent) and Meetup (6 per cent).