The first decades of the 21st century were marked by many cataclysms, economic crises, recessions, and pandemics. And in such realities, the global crisis has affected almost all areas of business and professions except for IT specialists.
Why? And who are these mysterious IT people?
It is pretty easy to answer the first question. IT specialists deal with computer and internet technologies; their sphere of activity is mainly based online. That is why whatever happens in the offline world, it hardly ever touches them.
As for the second question, let us try to find the answers in this article.
Who are IT specialists, and how do they differ from programmers?
An IT specialist is not one profession but a collective image of jobs associated with information technology.
These include:
Front-end and back-end developers;
Full-stack developers;
Testers;
Analysts;
Mobile app developers;
Game developers;
AI/ML specialists.
The difference between an IT specialist and a programmer is that programmers are usually called developers, and IT specialists are the creators of websites and applications.
IT specialists write codes, design site appearance, test innovations, analyze customer feedback and refine the product under the market requirements.
There is also a direction of offline software development, where the tasks are about the same. For a program, you also need to write a code, make an interface for users, test this entire system, and so on.
The most demanded IT specialists these days
We can safely refer the following IT professions to the most demanded IT jobs ever:
Information security specialist
According to the statistics, the number of cybercrimes in 2021 increased seven times compared to the previous year.
Companies do not want to lose their money, so they are actively investing in protection systems, their developers, and operators, in cybersecurity, in a word.
In the same 2021, the number of available vacancies in the global market for security analysts and engineers increased by 33%. According to the Dice analytics, salaries in this area added an average of 16,3% in 2021.
Mobile app developer
The mobile development market is growing at a tremendous pace. The pandemic and lockdowns are not frightening for it.
If three years ago the Statista estimated the global capitalization of mobile development at 1,3 trillion dollars, today it has grown almost five times, up to 6,3 trillion dollars.
In 2021, users spent more than$ 130 billion buying mobile apps and games, according to the SensorTower’s data. This is 19,7% more than in the previous year.
In such a profitable area, specialists are always in demand. Even a specialist without work experience, who has just completed a course, can find a job quite easily.
DevOps engineer
The BusinessWire states that the amount of DevOps vacancies is growing by 21% annually. 53% of recruiters searched for DevOps specialists at the beginning of 2021. And at the end of 2021, the number of DevOps vacancies on LinkedIn increased by 50%.
Companies need those who may help them escape financial trouble caused by the recent pandemic and unstable economic situation.
AI/ML specialists
According to the Career Carma, by the end of 2022, the demand for AI engineers may grow by 344%! And the need for data specialists will go up by 15% compared to the previous year. And the data scientists’ salary will grow by 20%.
The market is developing exponentially. And within the following five years the need for AI specialists will decrease and stabilize. But today, there is an acute shortage of these specialists.
The McKinsey Analytics shows that 57% of medium and large businesses have already implemented or will implement artificial intelligence and neural networks in their workflow compared to 45% in 2020.
Systems analyst
Businesses have always needed system analysts in times of crisis and without it. They are especially in demand in medium and large companies.
There is one exciting nuance: the average age of an IT specialist is 28, and the average age of a SA or a BA is 43. So, these are highly experienced specialists.
71% of systems analysts work for companies of 1,000 employees and more. But in 2021, the number of analysts hired for the companies from 50-people staff increased significantly.
Database administrator
The demand for this job has been growing in recent years because many companies are abandoning their physical servers and moving to cloud services. Therefore, these companies have to rebuild their database infrastructure. And this requires particular specialists.
The market is growing at a reasonably free pace, though. In 2021, it went up by 8% compared to the previous year. On the other hand, its growth is steady.
Full-stack developer
These universal specialists that combine the professional features and functions of front-end and back-end developers have been predominantly in demand in recent years.
The demand for them reached 51,9% on the panel at the beginning of 2022 compared to 35,62% in the previous year.
And this is not surprising because now, the need for universal specialists skilled in all aspects of site development is multiplying. Besides, it is much more cost-effective to hire one diversified expert than two specialized in one particular direction of the area.
So, now it is possible to foresee an obvious trend that the requirement for these IT specialists will only increase over time.
QA engineer or Tester
As the name implies, testers or QA engineers test software or any other related products for bugs, viruses, defects, and any problems the user may encounter in the work process. In short, QA engineers evaluate products and report back to the project team on the defects found or improvements needed.
In comparison, from 7,8% in 2020, these specialists have grown in demand to 12,93% in 2022.
And the more complex IT products and software are created and appear in the market, the higher the need for such experts will become.
Guides and eBooks at their best
The useful materials that clarify how to build efficient recruiting & HR processes
Why are these professions becoming more and more in demand? It is simple: due to the rapid growth of certain business areas and, accordingly, a sharp lack of specialists to maintain them give rise to intense competition in the market.
The current global trends and our OnHires statistics indicate that this situation will continue in the market for quite a long time. So, if you want to earn more than others, faster and earlier, then maybe it is high time to get another profession.
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
