Pikom: Malaysian ICT industry expected to register double-digit growth

WHAT TO EXPECT: (L to R): Pikom executive director Ong Kian Yew, Multimedia Development Corporation director of talent division Imran Kunalan Abdullah, Pikom chairman Cheah Kok Hoong, research committee chairman Woon Tai Hai and head of policy, capability and market research Ramachandran Ramasamy reveal the findings of the ICT Job Market Outlook 2015 report in Kuala Lumpur.

The national ICT Association of Malaysia Pikom has released its annual ICT Job Market Outlook 2015 report for the local ICT industry.

According to the report, the average salary for ICT professionals rose 7.9% from RM7,142 in 2013 to RM7,706 in 2014. The average salary is still expected to grow by another 7.4% to RM8,278 going into 2015.

Despite the slower economy in 2015, Pikom chairman Cheah Kok Hoong expects the industry to register 14.2% growth, based on the 12.5% actual growth for 2014 that the industry experienced.

The report also took a look at the ICT job market in the United States as an indicator of the kind of jobs that will be in demand in this country.

Not surprisingly, the fastest growing jobs in the ICT market are in the areas of Cloud computing, Big Data analytic and mobile application. Jobs in networking and security and business intelligence are also in demand.

In terms of skills, not much has changed, with Java, C#, C++, .Net, SharePoint and web application developers still being sought after by employers.

Interestingly, the report also highlighted top-paying countries for ICT jobs. Using the “raw data” as is, the top five countries are the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates. Malaysia sits at number 16 in the list, above the Philippines, Indonesia and India.

However, when adjusted for inflation (or specifically, Purchasing Power Parity, a method used to determine the relative value of currencies), the top five highest paying countries are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Hong Kong and Qatar.

In the PPP adjusted list, Malaysia sits at number 14, above India, Canada, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The report is produced as a result of a survey of 24 industries in ICT obtained from Pikom’s members and information from other countries.