Of the skills employers are seeking, Java development ranked first among the survey's respondents. Survey data also showed that companies need .net developers and staff with experience in the nascent mobile space, which shows major growth potential.

Given the constantly changing state of programming languages, finding talented developers with current skills and relevant industry experience is always challenging, Silver said.

While Dice.com currently lists approximately 1,500 jobs requiring mobile skills, mobile's "growth [is] what's so incredible right now," said Silver. Those figures will probably increase in the coming months to approximately 2,000 or 3,000, compared to about 100 listings last year, he continued, adding that virtualization and cloud computing skills followed a similar trajectory.

With becoming a regular occurrence, Silver noted "a demand for people who have expertise in data security and network security. Companies are really looking to find people who can help make infrastructure more secure."

And finding the right people has proven more challenging, according to the survey. Compared to last year, 50 percent of the people polled noted an increase in the amount of time required to fill open positions. The inability to find qualified professionals is the main reason for the greater length of time, according to 63 percent of the poll's respondents. This represents an increase of 17 percent from the survey's November results.