This year, we saw the rising demand for various tech jobs in the fields of cybersecurity, data science, and software development. Next year, the tech job landscape will likely be similar to 2018 as the need for tech professionals continues to increase.
In a TechRepublic article, Glassdoor community expert Sarah Stoddard said that the emerging technologies will determine the in-demand tech jobs this 2019.
She adds, “From artificial intelligence, automation, virtual reality, cryptocurrency and more, demand for jobs in engineering, product, data science, marketing and sales will continue to rise in order to support the innovation happening across the country.”
Furthermore, as companies apply digital transformations, tech leaders now face the challenge of handling increasing numbers of projects and addressing the tech talent shortage that comes with these new endeavors.
In Robert Half Technology’s 2019 IT salary report, the four industries that will experience increased digital transformation and will need more IT workers next year include Financial services, Manufacturing, Software as a Service (SaaS), and Healthcare.
Within these industries, here are the 13 hard-to-fill positions that are expected to be the most in-demand tech jobs next year.
As the amount of data increase with the invention of new devices and applications, the need to analyse and interpret data into valuable insights become increasingly important.
As such, the demand for BI Analysts is expected to grow by 14% through 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics.
With a background in business and computer science, BI Analysts must have knowledge and experience in analytics, database technology, and reporting tools. They must also have good critical thinking and analytical skills to make sense of data and strong written and verbal skills to accurately communicate insights.
Because of its good job outlook, a career as a BI Analyst is one of the best tech jobs for the future.
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From Q1 of 2017 to Q1 of 2018, cloud infrastructure grew to a large rate of 51% according to Synergy Research Group. This growth is expected to increase further as IT research firm Gartner predicts that the cloud market will amount to $411 billion by 2020.
This increase in spending proportionately increases the demand for tech professionals skilled in cloud infrastructure as well. This includes the demand for Cloud Architects who will be responsible for overseeing a company’s cloud computing strategy and managing, deploying, and supporting its cloud applications.
Candidates with outstanding communication skills and strong knowledge and experience with Amazon Web Services (AWS), automation, and IT Service Management (ITSM) are highly sought-after.
Another in-demand tech job that sprung from the growing cloud market is the Cloud Systems Engineer. They develop and design the virtual systems or technologies that support cloud operations.
These tech professionals typically have an experience working with cloud services such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and OpenStack, and have a good understanding of APIs, programming languages (e.g. Python, C++, PHP, and Java), automation, and DevOps.
Since 2015, job postings looking for cloud engineers and cloud computing professionals have risen to 27% according to Indeed. Because of this demand, a cloud systems engineer is also one of the highest paying jobs in-demand for the future with an average annual salary of $89,221 in the US, based on Glassdoor.
For the past three years, Glassdoor has listed data scientist as the best IT job in the US—and it is still expected to place high in demand in 2019.
Before, data scientists were only in-demand in the tech and finance industry, but now that almost every business collects data, the demand for data scientists has spread across other industries from retail to manufacturing, among others.
Data scientists mainly focus with data collection, organisation, and analysis. These data are then used by companies to make critical business decisions. To become a data scientist, you must have strong skills in statistics, programming, math, and analysis.
Due to this high demand, data scientists are also one of the highest paid tech jobs with an average annual salary of $139,840 according to Glassdoor.
If you’re thinking of shifting to a new career path, this is the best time to be a data scientist.
As big data continues to grow among companies, more and more businesses opt to hire in-house IT professionals to develop their own IT architecture. As such, database developers have become one of the most in-demand tech jobs for businesses.
The role of a database developer is to develop new database servers and manage the current database architecture. Usually, they develop database systems using SQL code, thus knowledge of various database technologies and programming languages is essential for database developers.
In addition, database developers must also have strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
Because of its hard-to-fill position, companies are willing to pay more especially for skilled database developers. The average salary for a database developer in the US is $81,280.
With a projected employment growth of 24% from 2016 to 2026 by the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, being a software developer is one of the best jobs for the next 10 years.
The role of software, web and mobile developer is to design, develop, test, and maintain systems, websites, or applications. Aside from these, developers must have the ability to understand client requirements and provide recommendations or solutions to meet the users’ needs.
Among the popular programming languages, Python, Java, and JavaScript are expected to be more in-demand than others. The rise of machine learning and AI has paved way for the increase in demand for Python developers, while JavaScript continues to be a popular programming language for enterprises. On the other hand, data from Indeed and Glassdoor suggest that Java developers will continue to dominate enterprises due to the growth of cloud technologies.
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Ranking 2nd on Glassdoor’s 2018 list of Best Jobs in America, DevOps (Development and Operations) engineers continue to place high in demand as their workflow increasingly becomes popular among businesses. In fact, job postings for the position rose from 1% in 2012 to 24% in 2017, based on a report from Indeed.
Hiring DevOps engineers into your business can help deploy faster code with fewer mistakes by managing IT infrastructure, overseeing software development and testing, and monitoring performance. They also help simplify code updates which allows companies to efficiently improve their processes.
Demand for DevOps engineers will continue as long as:
To be a DevOps engineer, one must have good coding and scripting skills, a strong knowledge and experience in automation, IT operations, and data management, as well as a deep understanding of best practices and exceptional communication skills.
According to Indeed, full stack developers are one of the most in-demand tech jobs in terms of open job postings. They are usually in demand due to their deep background and experience in all stages of software development.
Full stack developers usually have multiple years of experience in various areas of software development, and a strong knowledge and experience with different programming languages.
Because of their expertise in both front-end, back-end and optimisation, a full stack developer earns an average of $74,958 according to PayScale.
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Though their role may seem smaller than the others on the list, the help desk specialist plays a crucial role in a business as they are the ones facing the clients for customer service and troubleshooting.
Some of their tasks include user support and education, responding to automated alerts, email management assistance, and malware removal and prevention, among many others.
Finding a candidate with the right technical background and customer-oriented soft skills are crucial to the role of a help desk support specialist. According to Robert Half Technology, the position can be broken down into three tiers depending on the level of experience:
The need for IT support specialists has even prompted Google and Coursera to launch an IT support online course to fill the rising demand.
The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) has helped bring efficiency to consumers and businesses by seamlessly connecting a variety of devices without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
Because of this convenience, more and more businesses have started and will continue to develop and use IoT connected devices. In fact, Tripwire predicts that over 30 billion IoT devices will be installed by 2020.
With this demand for IoT connected devices also comes the need for IoT specialists. These professionals should be skilled in one or more of the following disciplines: connectivity, devices, edge and cloud analytics, enterprise integration, platforms, development and DevOps.
Hiring IoT specialists will help your company know the current trends and comply and scale with emerging IoT technologies.
According to W. Roy Schulte Gartner’s Vice President and distinguished analyst:
“The IoT is relevant in virtually every industry, although not in every application. There will be no purely ‘IoT applications.’ Rather, there will be many applications that leverage the IoT in some small or large aspect of their work. As a result, business analysts and developers of information-centric processes need to have the expertise and the tools to implement IoT aspects that play a role in their systems.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics projects a 6% growth for network administrators from 2016 to 2026. The demand for network administrators is expected to grow as long as firms will continue to buy new technology and mobile networks.
These tech professionals work with an organisation’s physical computer networks; thus, employment for this position can be found across many industries. They usually handle LAN/WAN protocol, software, and hardware.
A skilled network administrator will have expertise and experience in troubleshooting, good communication, and analytical and diagnostic skills.
It’s no secret that there is a huge demand for cybersecurity talent. In fact, there’s a 25% gap between the demand and supply of security professionals, based on a recent Capgemini study. A report by Cybersecurity Ventures also predicts that there will be 3.5 million unfilled positions by 2021.
Hiring security professionals has become an in-demand tech job due to the growing number of business operations that rely on data. These IT professionals help companies secure a business’ network, software, and hardware, comply with industry regulations, and keep up with security trends.
Good qualities to look for in a security professional are good communication skills, experience working with security systems, and a knowledge of managing security threats, vulnerabilities, and audits, among other qualifications.
When it comes to network security, you can not leave out the importance of a systems administrator. Since their role is crucial to the protection of a business’ IT environment, companies look for well-trained and experienced tech professionals in the field to take care of a business’ security requirements.
By the year 2020, the demand for systems administrators will have risen by 12% according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics.
A key requirement to be a Systems Administrator is to be constantly updated with the latest technology. SAs should also be familiar with the following emerging technologies:
Overall, a good SA should demonstrate good communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills, and a solid understanding of a company’s specific hardware and software.