The demand for digital technology talent in Hong Kong is growing and outstripping the number of available candidates. Not surprisingly, salaries have increased for many roles and will probably rise further in 2018.
Cyber security was the most in demand skill set in 2017 and will remain a hot area of hiring activity over the year ahead. From a global perspective, we’ve seen a number of highly visible cyber attacks occur and this has seen many organisations review their current processess and make plans to add headcount.
The introduction of new regulations in Hong Kong in 2017 made it compulsory for companies to have a certain number of cyber security professionals in their firms further fuelling demand for talent. Both junior and senior level talent who hold either a CISA or CISSP qualification are in demand. Not surprisingly, we saw salaries increase markedly in 2017 and expect upward pressure on remuneration rates to continue in 2018.
Junior to mid-level mobile developers are also in hot demand. There is an obvious shortage of mobile developers for both Android and iPhone platforms and this has seen some employers wait months to find a suitable candidate. In the financial services and e-commerce industries, candidates experienced in Swift and Objective-C who have both full stack and mobile experience are preferred. Demand for mobile developers is nothing new, but the demand for candidates with React JS capability has been increasing in line with the digitalisation of businesses. Not surprisingly, rising salaries for mobile developers will continue to climb.
Local e-commerce companies, insurance firms and retail banks are adding web and mobile developers too. Candidates with a strong eye for design, plus the technical ability to code using front end languages such as JavaScript, Angular, React are in particularly high demand.
As businesses are pushed to have visually appealing apps and websites, the demand for web and mobile developers and UI/UX designers increases and this has seen a slight uplift in salaries. The greatest demand has been for candidates who can both code using HTML5, CSS and create visually appealing layouts. These candidates are extremely rare in Hong Kong and have been given the nickname “unicorns”. Large salary increases are provided to these candidates when they can be found.
Source:Hays Salary Guide 2018