The 5 Hottest Tech Skills
Few business sectors in today’s economy have experienced the same massive expansion we have seen in the technology sector. While information technology leaders were once tasked with keeping the computers in the office up and running, IT has now become a critical driver of a company’s operational success. As reported recently by CIO magazine, the unemployment rates in the IT industry are near historic lows, with 81% of IT executives saying they are having immense difficulty finding talent with the right IT skills sets or expertise within major infrastructure or BI improvements.
One thing is very certain in the IT industry today – the market is constantly changing, and like a domino effect, the needed IT skill sets also change. The challenge to keep pace with the latest trends, as well as the continued IT education/certification can be daunting! At CultureFit, we work hard to be a critical support resource that expands beyond staffing and recruiting, with trends, research, and best practices freely shared. We’ve compiled this list of the 5 hottest tech skills to help businesses plan for the future, and IT professionals manage the best career track to stay relevant in the years to come.
1. Cloud Skills
Cloud computing has finally achieved a level of adoption across companies of all sizes – the ability to scale and maintain the popular cloud based applications and platforms has significantly reduced costs of the legacy facility based programs. But thanks to cloud computing, security has also given to an accelerated rise in demand. While the supply of cloud skills may be catching up with demand, demand still remains high for those with expertise with cloud environments like Azure, Google Cloud and Rackspace Cloud.
2. Information Security/Cybersecurity Skills
Hence, it should be no surprise that security and encryption is also part of our big 5. Big data breaches continue to be a challenge for even the most sophisticated organizations and experts, especially those in the health care sector who need to adhere to HIPPA compliance laws. Couple this with the rise in payments from ransomware in 2016, and information security is at the top of everyone’s mind in just about every sector of the economy.
3. Big Data Skills
Big Data is a collection of structured and unstructured data that needs to be captured across multiple systems and integrated into single database in order to have any useful benefit. Although structured data has seen much easier capture and storage methods, unstructured data (email, photos, music, etc) is still in a growth mode. The analytics category has quickly become an essential part of how a business can operate more efficiently, provide exceptional customer service, and stay ahead of the competition to name only a few benefits. Big Data is here to stay. Access to any and all Data has become an essential part of tech operations not only for the enterprise business, but also for mid- and small businesses who are finding more cost efficient solutions available to meet their budget constraints. Therefore, this category of expertise will continue to grow at an accelerated rate, with no slowdown in the immediate future.
4. Network and Infrastructure Skills
All companies are looking to improve their network infrastructure, and having expert network administrators to support and maintain storage and security systems. The continued goals to enhance the flexibility and efficiency of the overall operation are high demand drivers. Also, with the growth of 4G mobile networks worldwide, critical infrastructure skills are needed to help maintain a secure, consistent, and reliable network that expands domestically and globally.
5. Project Management
With the increased demand, it should be no surprise Technology budgets are also expected to grow significantly in 2016 and 2017, leading to more projects. With that being said, more projects mean more people to manage those projects end-to-end. In order to execute more efficiently, corporations are looking for project managers who have experience in agile DevOps environments, as well as candidates who can prioritize and keep the workflow going at a manageable clip.
With the technology landscape changing at a dramatic pace, it becomes imperative for technology organizations to identify how best to allocate IT budgets, as well as find the best talent fit that possess many different skills to make them competitive in the marketplace without having to hire multiple employees who only have a single skill set. If you would like to find out more about the hottest tech skills corporations are looking for in the Chicagoland area, speak with one of our IT staffing consultants at CultureFit. CultureFit is a full service Technology Staffing and recruitment firm for IT Professionals that value organizational fit, job satisfaction, and an extremely high level of technical IT skills.
