A few years ago, experts warned that the end of the technical software developer was nigh, at least in countries other than those with low-wage economies where all such jobs were destined to be outsourced.

But now it seems that such talk was premature. Although some companies are using offshore teams successfully, many others are stepping up their in-house development.

One of the key drivers for this transformation is the rush to adopt service-oriented architectures (SOAs).

Michael Azoff, senior research analyst at Butler Group, says there is no one-size-fits-all SOA.

‘Developers need a good understanding of the principles and technologies involved to implement SOA correctly,’ he says.

One consequence of SOA adoption will be a continuing growth in the demand for people able to write rich, web-based applications that are likely to form the front end of services.

‘Developers will need skills in web services and rich internet applications,’ says Azoff. The financial sector is making the biggest progress here, he adds.

Rapid application development and agile computing skills will also be in demand. But the key challenge for developers is not technical but interpersonal.

In terms of programming, Azoff believes Java and .Net will remain dominant for the foreseeable future.

‘But C++ still commands quite a large niche, and there is also much interest among techies in newer, more nimble languages such as Ruby on Rails,’ he says.

Organisations are also waking up to open source, says Azoff.

‘Many top-flight developers are already involved in open source development projects, and some organisations are starting to understand that there could be benefits from supporting those efforts,’ he says.

Steve Craggs, president of software consultant Saint Consulting, says developers should also get to grips with business activity monitoring. ‘This allows organisations to make more intelligent decisions on resourcing, and they will need programmers to implement it,’ he says.

But Craggs says demand for many traditional technical development skills, such as network security, will shrink. ‘A lot more of this capability is being built into appliances,’ he says.

Another area that Craggs predicts will shrink is software customisation, since major packages will offer cleaner interfaces in future, reducing the requirement for such work.

The need for mainframe and legacy system skills is also likely to diminish, although Craggs says this area could still offer a lucrative niche for a few.

‘Organisations will need people who are able to turn what the business already has into reusable services,’ he says.

‘If I was at college now I would be very tempted to become a legacy programmer, as there will not be many around.’

UK software faces a brain drain

www.computing.co.uk/2159830