The Bulgarian IT labour market has developed dynamically since 2001, but 2011 is the year of recession- the average salary in the sector is 1000,67 lv which is a 1,8 % drop compared to the salaries in 2010. Bonus packs fall almost 60 % (1228 lv. compared to 2818 in 2010).

Employees in Sofia get the highest salaries; they earn 1260 lv. which is 26 % more than all other IT specialists from the sample. Personnel in cities with population over 100 thousand people get 844 lv. per month, while those in cities with less than 100,000 inhabitants - only 645 lv. Foreign private companies pay the highest salaries (average 1455 EUR) as ITC professionals aged between 26 and 35, have the best salaries. As previous years men are better rewarded for their labor than women. They earn 1040 leva a month while women - 949 lv / month. Highest-paid positions for 2011 are testing and QA-engineer, network engineer, web developer / web designer, senior programmer / software specialist /software engineer, manager of IT company.

A large part of the non-certified staff (68%) works in Sofia (59% of IT staff in small towns have no certificate). Overall 76.6% of specialists from around the country are graduates.The net monthly salary of ITC workers with bachelor's degree is 1118 leva, and employees who have completed only secondary school, earn an average salary of 799 BGN per month.

Administration of systems and databases is the most popular ITC skill in 2011, application development and network administration are in top 3. IT management processes in ITIL is another interesting skill. Speaking in public is already in the top 3 non-technical skills as well as foreign language (40%) and teamwork (74.7%).

Unsatisfied employees this year are mainly employed in the administration and specialist in ITC companies operating in Sofia and in larger companies (over 50) as well as specialists, whose salary has been reduced. In addition, this year a higher degree of unsatisfaction was observed in ITC specialists with higher pay - 54% of workers in the sector who receive a salary from 2001 to 3000 BGN said they were unsatisfied with their remuneration. Overall, 48% of all IT professionals are satisfied with their pay.

Most of the ITC specialists (85%) have an employment contract and a full-time position; freelancers are 11% of the total sample. This year only 6% of ITC professionals in the sector have changed their jobs. 33% of the HR managers in IT companies intend to increase their staff this year.

The main problems of ITC specialists in 2011 are higher level of stress (33%), lack of adequate pay increase (26%) and budget constraints (23%). One fifth of employees in the sector believe that there is no economic crisis in the industry, 38% expect to experience improvements by the end of this year or next year. However, a significant part (36% vs 25% in 2010) feel that the sector is deteriorating. The conscious choice of an employer and a job is extremely important in the field of ITC, because there is a high demand of employees; it is difficult to satisfy the hunger for professionals.  People seeking employment are in a better position, but organizations try to manipulate their choices. Of course, it doesn’t mean that they create illusions, it is a "fair game" based on the already established "rules". There is an accurate term for this - "employer branding", or "developping a good employer brand."

Source: ICT Media