“This is hardly surprising when you consider the emerging tech trends of 2015; cybersecurity (69 percent), private cloud (61 percent) and data mining and analysis (54 percent),” Barry adds.
Auckland for Innovative IT Education and Start-ups
Auckland boasts some of the country’s top schools and is home to several of the country’s universities; including the University of Auckland, the only New Zealand institution making it into the Top 100 World University Rankings.
“With educators like AUT, University of Auckland, Massey University, and the Callaghan Institute all located in Auckland City, the IT talent pool is consistently growing and diversifying,” Barry adds.
“New graduates coming into the workforce are well-prepared thanks to the commercial arms of these institutions, such as University of Auckland’s Uni Services, AUT Enterprises (AUTEL), and Massey University’s E-Centre.”
Barry says the Summer of Tech programme is also helping foster new IT talent by pairing up students with IT companies to deliver internships – paid ones at that.
“For those interested in the tech start-up scene, The Wynyard Quarter Innovation Precinct (WQIP), located between the Auckland CBD and the Waitemata Harbour, is an exciting multi-purpose development invested in fostering collaboration and creativity in the tech world,” he adds.
“GridAKL curate the collection of WQIP residents and dubs itself a home for “the startup, technology and innovation community in New Zealand”, including residents like Mohio (cloud platform visualisation), 90 Seconds (cloud video production service), and 3 Months (web and mobile app developers).”
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With 90 percent of tech professionals in Auckland considering their work-life balance to be either average or above, and 86 percent believing their current workplace a good environment to be, Barry believes Auckland tech professionals are certainly some of the happiest in the country, according to figures from the latest Tech Job Seeker Survey.
Auckland Tech Professionals Work/Life Balance
For Barry, it is no surprise then that Auckland was recently named one of the top 10 most liveable cities.
“This was largely owing to a 100 score in education and 97 in culture and environment,” Barry explains. “And Mercer ranked Auckland third for quality of life in their 2015 global Quality of Living Index.”
Furthermore, the earning potential in Auckland is nothing to be scoffed at, especially when considering the pay increases trending in the sector.
At present, 95 percent of Auckland tech professionals are either planning to give their staff / contractors a pay increase in 2015 or are undecided - this is an increase on the 82 percent of IT professionals in 2014 who did receive a pay increase and smaller 75 percent in 2013.
“2015 salaries for IT professionals are looking good for Auckland,” Barry forecasts. “The median salary for IT workers in Auckland is $82,000 which is up $2,000 on 2014 and the median bonus in the industry is $6,000.
