Leader: IT talent is the lifeblood of your business

Maybe it's time to buy your smartest workers a pint.

The importance of attracting and retaining top IT talent was put under the spotlight today with Google announcing a coding competition for European programmers.

Though the effort is more outreach to the software development community than a true recruitment drive, it reveals the commitment of one of tech's biggest brands to making sure it is associated with the industry's best and brightest.

Here at silicon.com, it's Skill Survey season, with our annual snapshot of the UK workforce underway. Preliminary results show trends that are consistent with years past: programming is the hardest techie skill to come by, while project-management and leadership are the softer skills in greatest need.

Google says it is having no trouble finding techies with the right skills in London but not everyone in the industry is so lucky - so it would behove employers to make sure they're treating their top performers well.

Your business' IT is only as good as the people who run it.

Our Skills Survey is running for just a few more days. If you haven't got involved yet, click here to take the survey.