It’s a good time to be a “tech” professional! According to a recent survey, 54% of companies surveyed said they expect to hire new IT employees in 2015. Specifically those with skills in cloud, mobile technology, security & big data.
We’ve taken a long hard look at most of the “forecasts” and surveys regarding the growing demand for available IT talent. Also keeping in mind what we are hearing and seeing from our own clients’ priorities when it comes to their workforce planning, we’ve come up with what seem to be the top ten most wanted IT skills this year.
Programming/Web/Application Development – Demand for these skills has been growing and continued growth is expected. IT departments seem more likely to have openings for programmers and developers than for any other position.
Project Management – Strong project managers who have both business and IT skills and solid experience managing complex initiatives will continue to be in high demand.
Security/Cybersecurity – Businesses in almost every sector are at risk from cybercriminals, security breaches and hacking threats. Because it is relatively new in the forefront, there are not a lot of “specialists” in the field.
Database Administration/Big Data Skills – Almost every organization can capitalize on big data and that particular skill knows no industry bounds. Database administration is a role that is always needed and according to Terry Erdle, an EVP at CompTIA, “With big data, you have the ability to crunch massive amounts of data, but you still need to understand how your database is put together.” Hadoop is key technology at the center of the big data craze. Hadoop skills are also very much in demand.
Cloud – in 2014, cloud adoption among IT departments was somewhere around 90%, according to CIO. Trends show that companies will continue to invest in the cloud and cloud related skills will continue to be a top commodity.
Mobile–According to Information Age, it is predicted that by 2017 more than 90% of internet users will access online content through mobile phones. Mobile technology is something that almost everyone needs to have and greater investments are being made in mobile application development.
Architecture – Companies are hiring more architects. The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) skills, in particular, are the most highly paid noncertified IT skill and a regular on many “Hot Skills” lists.
Help Desk/Tech Support – Companies continue to grow the list of projects/applications/devices that their departments support, so the ongoing demand for help desk and technical support staffers is high.
Networking – According to a recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report, 57% of US technology executives said network administration tops the list of skills they need in their organizations.
Data Scientist/Analytics – Also partly as a result of “big data,” there is a need to sift through all of that data. Data scientists are needed to figure out exactly how to get meaningful numbers and useful information from large volumes of data. R is the language of choice for this statistical analysis and is seeing a big surge in popularity.
This is by no means a complete list of skills that in currently in demand. However, we do see these as strong specialist skills that definitely rank among the most sought after positions.
IT is an ever-changing field and it is important to not only keep your skills sharp, but stay in tune with changes and trends and do your best to stay out in front of them. In any case, right now is a good time to be in the IT profession!
CREDO is always looking for IT professionals who share our passion for IT project success. Learn more about careers through CREDO Technology Solutions.
