The new IT Salary Guide from technical staffing leader Robert Half Technology indicates the IT professionals who will enjoy the biggest pay raises in 2013.

The information technology job market will experience a 5.3% uptick in starting IT salaries in 2013, dwarfing the 2.9% average raise for all American workers. A clear skills gap in high-demand positions is the driving factor in IT salary hikes; cutting-edge fields like mobile app development, wireless networking and big data analytics currently have more job openings than qualified professionals to fill them.

Android and iOS application developers will score the biggest raise from 2012 to 2013, with a 9% increase in starting salaries, followed closely by network engineers and data scientists.

Here are the 10 IT job roles getting the biggest pay hikes in 2013:

Master Technician, Darril Gibson, breaks down the essential soft skills for peak performance and upward mobility in IT help desk job roles.

Help desk technicians (and all IT professionals) need a full range of hard and soft skills to excel in their career. Hard skills are specific, measurable abilities, such as configuring Windows or troubleshooting a Cisco network, while soft skills refer to a person’s capacity to effectively interact with others. As demand for IT talent continues to rise and the workforce becomes more competitive, those who compliment their knowledge and training with superior soft skills will be in the best position for long-term success.

Here are five of the most advantageous soft skills for IT help desk technicians:

In a tough job market, it pays to be strategic, and to look for positions in industries with the best opportunities for career growth and upward mobility. ITCareerFinder examined tech job growth rates from the leading unbiased employment sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, to identify the fastest growing IT careers for 2012 and beyond.

Here are the top five fastest growing IT career paths:

Earlier this week, Global Knowledge and TechRepublic published their highly anticipated 2012 IT Salary and Skills Report. Over 9,500 IT professionals completed this year's salary survey and questionnaire. Explore this infographic for the 2012 salary report's key findings, including wage comparisons by IT certification, job function, education, industry and geographic region.

Tech executives identify the hottest IT skill sets for 2013 in a new Computerworld survey.

IT executives share their hiring plans for 2013 in Computerworld's annual IT Forecast. Over 33% of the 334 IT decision-makers surveyed plan to take on new talent in 2013 - up from 29% in last year's survey and 23% in 2010. 2013 heralds an exciting time in IT employment, as the skill sets in the greatest demand are those that focus on the development, integration and management of new technologies and innovations to grow the business.

Here are this year's most sought-after IT skill sets: