The number of tech employment opportunities is expected to increase by 12% by 2024, which will lead to more and more jobs becoming available to IT professionals looking to get into the space, according to a report by Modis. With the number of tech positions in web development, biomedical engineering, cybersecurity and analysis expected to grow exponentially within the next year, one may find the competition to acquire a skilled job candidate harder than they think.
While job seekers will offer an array of technical skills, employers are typically looking for a more balanced employee who also possesses soft skills that are not readily apparent on a resume. The ability to communicate with others and be approachable in their demeanor can go a long way for potential candidates looking to break into the tech space.
From strong communication skills and adaptability to experience with the latest technologies, here are several skill sets expected to be in high demand in the tech industry in 2018, according to 13 members of Forbes Technology Council.
1. Experience With AI
As per FTC member Sultan Meghji, Virtova, the field of artificial intelligence is seriously understaffed. Specifically, finding technology leaders (CIO/CTO, head of product, etc.) who know how to credibly manage teams made up of AI, data science and innovative product specialists will prove to be difficult going forward.
2. Skills To Envision, Design And Develop AR Apps
As per FTC member Chris Kirby, Voices.com , over the last year, we have seen a number of companies produce hardware and software features to support augmented reality and machine learning. The people with the skills to envision, design, and develop applications that take advantage of these new chips and APIs will be in high demand.
3. Data Science Talent
As per FTC member Andrii Buvailo, Enamine, with the rise of big data and machine learning, data scientists are becoming a key component in many industries — from finance and banking to health care and drug discovery. Companies will be investing on a big scale in talent acquisition in this field.
4. Mobile Application Development
As per FTC member Scott Stiner, UM Technologies, mobile application developers will continue to be in high demand, just as they have been the past few years. The demand will get greater in 2018, though, and successful app developers should be fluent in multiple programming languages, including Java, HTML5, Objective-C, C++, C#, Python and Swift. Also, app developers with UX and UI design skills can offer much more value for project management.
5. Excellence In Cybersecurity
As per FTC member Maria Clemens, Management and Network Services, given the recent infiltration of networks, there will be an increased need for excellence in cybersecurity. Organizations need to ensure they are protecting the data they capture behind the walls of their networks. Stakeholders are becoming increasingly aware of cybersecurity concerns and therefore demanding companies address the issue. The tech industry will need expertise in this area in 2018.
6. Talent For SaaS In The Cloud
As per FTC member Jeremy Williams, Vyudu, IT professionals with skills in cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) will be the hot ticket in 2018. Virtualization skills in Amazon AWS, Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware for private cloud hosting will, without a doubt, help you stand out from the crowd. Experience with DevOps, containers, the entire cloud stack and IPv6 will also benefit your chances for a top job tremendously.
7. Ability To Adapt To New Tech
As per FTC member Arthur Pereless, Pereless Systems, one of the most important characteristics of a tech star is the ability to adapt to new technologies. It is almost impossible to predict what will be the norm six months from now. Someone who is constantly learning will be very successful in the future of this unpredictable field.
8. Coding And Engineering Experience
As per FTC member Chalmers Brown, Due, an engineering mind and coding skills are now essential for the high-tech industry. Everything is about new ways to build and use products and services that are more intuitive.
9. Applied Machine Learning
As per FTC member Carson Kahn, Volley (Volley.com), Data science has been growing rapidly as a profession. But if data science applies in settings where we care about the interpretability and theoretic soundness of the methodology, like any science, applied machine learning is just about the results. Being able to experiment with common neural networks in Tensorflow will outstrip tinkering with R programming as demand increases.
10. Programming Knowledge
As per FTC member Bianca Diosdado, Octagon Talent Solutions, Programming, especially with multi-faceted languages like Javascript and Python, are the most in demand, whether you’re an infrastructure engineer, software engineer or even a digital marketing professional. These languages are not only used to build scalable applications but also to automate, streamline processes or crawl data across disparate systems.
11. Any Skills Related To Analytics
As per FTC member Michael Ringman, TELUS International, Machine learning and data analytics are going to continue to grow and change the face of the IT industry as we know it today. I’ve even encouraged my daughter to take analytics as her major knowing that it’s going to be a game-changer in the near future.
12. Cross-Team Functionality And Communication
As per FTC member Zohar Dayan, Wibbitz, there’s an increasing amount of overlap between different job functions, and communicating effectively with different members of an organization is essential. Projects require collaboration between developers, marketers, and designers, and not everyone adapts to understanding the different languages and workflows of each team.
13. Digital Transformation
As per FTC member Naresh Soni, Tsunami ARVR, an important skill is to identify and implement digital platforms across the whole organization that will impact operational efficiencies and increase revenue.
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