crisis

The crisis in the IT market is overcome.
Furthermore German IT freelancers seem to be very satisfied with their order situation. The importance of the IT market in Germany is increasing further.
This is also fitting to the current market figures I would like to present you in below.

German IT service providers expect a market growth of up to 5% by the end of 2010.
A growth even stronger is expected for the following years. The further distant the future, the better are the prospects for the German IT market.

Market Research Company and consultancy Lünendonk surveyed an explorative group of German suppliers and received mostly positive responses concerning the IT market development:
For the rest of 2010 eight out of ten respondents anticipate a maximum market growth of five percent, whereas not one of the respondents expects losses for the remaining year.

The expectations from 2010 to 2015 are even better.
Good two-thirds (64%) of the respondents expect an increase of 1-5%. The remaining 34% expect an even higher growth, so the average agrees on 5.7%.

Lünendonk indicates the current market volume of € 17.3 billion. In comparison to 2008, it is a growth of 2%. (These figures are based on information provided by the industry association Bitkom and the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO).

What are your impressions – Have we left the crisis behind?
We are looking forward to your opinions.

Source: cio.de

this bnet article by alice chen gives 3 effective tips for better coping with the increasing stress in our today’s working environment…

according to dw-world.de, “rising unemployment as a result of the continuing global economic crisis is having a particular effect on young germans under the age of 24, a new study says…”

during the current market crisis, companies should focus on their employees´ professional development. this is how prof. scheer, president of the hightech-organisation BITKOM, comments on the latest survey concerning e-learning.
but further professional development is also an important factor for freelancers in order to enhance their knowledge during decreasing demand. it can help ride out the financial crisis, as crises tend to make market selections.
according to the survey 36% of the german net users already employ e-learning techniques, and 26% focus on their professional development.

projektwerks’ market-monitor

project market: recovery despite crisis

hamburg. after a low point in may, in june the number of projects offered on projektwerk rose again after a sharp downturn at the beginning of the year. while oracle was the only bright spot in the first and second quarter of 2009, project numbers for sap, j2ee/java as well as sql soon closed the gap.

vertical axis: number of projects offered / horizontal axis: period

projektwerk ceo christiane strasse commented on the latest developments on the projektwerk platform as follows, “we assume that the bottom has been reached – while businesses primarily economized on external resources at the beginning of the crisis, it is now the freelancers that first experience the trend toward recovery”.

the trend is also supported by current data from a series of economic indicators, which at least indicate a positive tendency that essentially lightens the mood in germany.

thus, the consumer climate index settled down at 2.6 points, with a promising outlook for an upward swing in july. the ifo-institute was the first to spread the positive news and announced the downward trend was halted.

zew-president wolfgang franz told the “handelsblatt” that he was optimistic about the rising economic expectations, “expert assessments suggest that the downward momentum is coming to a standstill, and they see recovery at the end of the year.”

projektwerk

“the recession is a scary thing. mentioning the word recession makes peoples’ eyes bulge and their body language switch from open and happy to reserved and timid. is it the fact that the super big businesses across the world are closing or filing for bankruptcy? or could it be that the smaller businesses are closing shop and leaving entire strip malls across america vacant?

whatever the reason behind it, i am sure the recession has scared all of us at one point or another. the nervousness we get when we look at our financial records and wonder if they’re going to be dipping to an all time low. the uneasy feeling we get when all of our leads have dried up and we do not know what to do next. or the view of the freelance world from the outside looking in — the first time freelancer who doesn’t know if they should take the jump now because times are so hard…”

…read the full article here.

as in the u.s., growing unemployment rates in the eu and euro zone undercut optimism that the global economic crisis is easing.

as generally known, businesses worldwide are suffering heavily due to the reigning financial crisis. unfortunately, operational difficulties arise for a variety of reasons currently, such as a low order volume or insufficient financing options for example. as a result, instead of shrinking operations, employees are laid off en masse. how long will this development continue? there seems to be no prospect for a quick recovery of the economy, at least in the near future.

however, this economic crisis seems to boost a trend in the labour market that has long been apparent. the developments clearly demonstrate a shift away from permanent, full-time employment towards temporary, flexible work. a growing number of people is increasingly engaged in self-employment or freelance work, a development projektwerk can confirm due to increasing user numbers and registrations to its service.

although the economic situation in general is unfortunate, among the many losers, there are also have to be winners. just now projektwerk comes into play. projektwerk’s online marketplace provides the platform for independent professionals, freelancers and businesses, companies to connect and get work done efficiently. on the one hand, projektwerk enables businesses to flexibly react to their needs and hire qualified personnel on demand, relatively independent of economic fluctuations. on the other hand, freelancers get access to multiple up-to-date projects, not dependent on a single employer. undeniably a possibility for both sides to benefit, especially in challenging times…

projektwerk

los angeles times: “hiring might not rebound in an economic recovery”