Salaries Up. Outsourcing Overblown?

InformationWeek reports the lid on IT salaries is beginning to lift, and IT specialists should see gains of as much as 10 to 15 percent over the next three years, according to a new IT staff salaries study by the META Group.

Schafer was asked what impact the outsourcing phenomenon will have on IT specialists and their salaries.

While outsourcing has an impact, she believes talk of its impact has been overblown. Schafer cited a recent META Group outsourcing study, which found that 81 percent of some 600 polled IT enterprises don't engage in outsourcing at all.

She pointed to the value of IT specialists with "balanced capabilities"--having a strong technical expertise combined with managerial skills. She said: "These skills aren't going to be outsourced--ever."