Dice.com, an Iowa-based career website, revealed in a recent survey that the information technology industry will hire more professionals as the demand for such type of workers will likely spike in the first quarter of 2011. The data was collected from the responses of almost 850 human resource managers and recruiters that hire IT professionals nationwide. About 60% of those hiring managers and recruiters said that the IT industry hiring will heat up in the first quarter of 2011. Of those 60%, around 45% said that they will boost hiring by at least 10%, another third projected 11-20% increase, while 15% expected to increase hiring by 21-30%.

According to the Dice.com survey, the most in-demand jobs for 2011 in the area of IT are the following: developers for java, .net, software, web and mobile, as well as project managers, business analysts, business intelligence professionals, security analysts and those with SAP expertise. The survey also noted that despite the high demand, employers experienced difficulty in finding qualified professionals. Of those surveyed, a significant 46% said they could not find enough qualified applicants to fill their open positions.

When it comes to salary increases, the survey found out that salaries for tech professionals have either risen slightly or remained flat over the past year. About 52% agreed that salaries have remained flat during the past year while some 41% noted that salaries have risen at least slightly.