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ShutterstockWill companies need IT professionals on staff in the
future? That's the question on some people's minds as they wonder
what their future holds. Of course, that depends on the area of
expertise in the IT world, and means different things for different
titles, including network and system administrators, consultants,
project managers, developers, technicians and programmers/coders, to
name a few.
A 2015 report from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (biannually, every two years) paints
some surprising numbers regarding job outlook and growth. Employment
in the computer and information technology sector is expected to grow
by 12 percent by 2024. There are roughly 3.9 million jobs in IT,
which is expected to hit 4.4 million in the next seven years thanks
to the advancement in cloud computing, big data, and the IoT,
according to the report. Jobs are increasing, but so is the
complexity within them.
The Bureau of Labor
Statistics report suggests that some professional tech jobs will see
continued growth for 2017, while others will remain stable, but a few
will likely fall by the wayside. Analysts from Foote Partners LLC
notes in their 2017 IT Skills and Certification Pay Index that cyber
security specialists are on the upswing.
In fact, 10 of the
highest grossing certifications are within this category, and
rightfully so with the amount of damage and identity theft that is
targeting corporations. Forensics, penetration testing, perimeter
protection, security analysis and enterprise defense are just a few
of the certifications under high demand and that will continue to
grow into 2018.
DevOps (software
development and information technology operations) certification is
set to continue to be in demand, including skills such as coding,
building, testing and releasing software at a relatively quick pace.
This category allows for the cross-department integration of those
functions with IT operations with a focus on communication and
collaboration. More companies are putting a focus on DevOps training.
Another growing area
in the IT industry involves big data and the specialists who collect
and analyze that information for any number of applications including
metrics, predictive outcomes and future trends. According to Foote
Partners, specialists in this field are in high demand, especially
with the influx of IoT/telematics applications, which is on track to
become an $11 billion market.
Jobs in the digital
product development area are also on the rise as nearly every major
company on the planet utilize top further their growth. The
integration of big data, processes, business and even IT fall under
this category as well as product design and analysts, all leading to
an increase in demand for specialists who fall under this category.
With that in mind,
those same companies also require those with application development
in a microservices architecture environment skills, particularly
since those are the folks who create specific business tools to
further application and product development within the company. For
example, think about tools such as Asana, Basecamp and Microsoft
Project. These collaborative and centralized applications make
integration with various departments within a company simple.
Foote Partners
reports that traditional help desk tier 2 and 3 jobs remain steadily
in demand, as companies still require staff to increase a technical
support infrastructure as consumerization of technology continues to
rise. As technology continues to grow, so does the demand for those
who can troubleshoot and repair that technology with specialized
skills and tools.
However, tier 1
demand is nearly non-existent, and is probably one of the few skills
that have fallen by the wayside, as more companies require a level of
specialty to address specific problems such as hardware/applications
within their organization that requires more than a general overview.
As with any job,
those in IT continue to evolve, and as it ages, some positions are no
longer needed, especially those who specialize in outdated program
languages, such as Pascal, ADA, Cobol and Fortran. The same goes on
the hardware front unless technology remains stagnant and doesn't
evolve. All these jobs will change.
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