Despite the gloomy reports of economic meltdown and falling recruitment, many careers in computing remain resilient to recession because IT has become a core area for almost every company. John Challenger, CEO of recruitment specialist Challenger, Gray and Christmas, the computing sector has developed into a distinctively different creature to sales or finance, as unlike those other professions, IT is embedded at the heart of doing business for the majority of firms. As a result, a number of computing skills - such as software engineering, networking and systems administration and data administration - are likely to remain in demand despite the ailing economy. Barry Lawrence of JobFox, which recently placed these computing jobs in a list of recession-proof careers, said: "When you look at what we see - job postings and companies trying to match jobs to candidates - IT is winning the day right now." According to the Department of Labor, people involved in the design, development, testing and evaluation of computer software and systems held around 857,000 jobs in 2006. By 2016, the sector is expected to grow by 38% - one of the biggest expansion rates for any industry.  |