While job prospects remain strong with respect to last year, there have been significant changes in terms of the most highly valued IT skills
Job prospects for IT professionals for the year ahead look similar to those in 2013, with 32% of companies expecting to expand personnel in their IT departments, according to the 2014 edition of the annual Computerworld survey. But, while demand will remain stable, there have been some changes in the most highly valued professional skills with regard to last year, so we’re going to briefly run down the 8 IT skills that will be in the greatest demand by human resource managers in 2014 , according to this year’s Computerworld report.
The programmer and software developer profile is one of the most highly valued by tech companies. In fact, according to the US Office of Labor Statistics, these professionals have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the job market, around 1.8 percent. Everything seems to indicate that in 2014, the professionals who will be in the greatest demand will be those with experience in mobile development and the creation of secure applications. This profile was number one in last year’s ranking, and according to the study, 49% of companies plan to hire this type of professional this year.
In second place, is technical support/help desk. Another one of the most highly valued jobs, which 37% of the companies surveyed intend to add to their work teams in the next 12 months. This profile, which moved up one slot with respect to 2013, is closely tied to the growth of companies and the expansion of their technological infrastructure. Until quite recently, many companies outsourced these services for strategic reasons, but with the growth prospects for the next few years, they are now opting to manage these areas internally.
Networking knowledge is also a key skill for this year, according to 31% of those surveyed. The profile of professionals with network skills is the one with the greatest demand with respect to last year, jumping from number 8 to number 3 in the Computerworld ranking. This increase is related to the results of a recent survey by human resources company Robert Half Technology, in which 55% of those surveyed said that the growing need to improve wireless connectivity of public services, administrations and companies require the addition of experts in databases and network administration this year.
Mobile applications and device management held the fourth spot in the ranking. Twenty-seven per cent of those surveyed said that they planned to hire professionals with this profile in the next 12 months. The explanation for this demand seems obvious given the proliferation of mobile devices among consumers and in the business world.
Project management was number five, with 25% demand for this year. Although demand for this skill dropped from number 2 to number 5 with respect to 2013, it’s still a profile that is very highly valued among companies that are willing to carry out strategic projects. In fact, demand for project managers was only exceeded by demand for software developers and engineers, which increased 11% with respect to 2013.
Database administration was sixth, due to the growing interests of companies in Big Data and bulk management of stored data. The profile of data architect will be one of the most highly valued by companies in the coming years due to the strategic benefits that Big Data technology can generate based on the analysis and management of data from sources such as social media, websites and third parties. In fact, this year, 24% of the companies surveyed plan to incorporate this profile into their departments.
Cyber security is another highly valued IT skill, with demand increasing 23% with respect to last year. The growth of malware and non-stop cyber attacks have caused demand for this type of experts to skyrocket, as shown in the survey by Robert Half Technology.
Business analytics and intelligence closed out the ranking of the 8 IT skills that are most highly valued by departments for 2014. With the increase in the volume of data expected by 2020 according to IDC, companies are starting to develop sophisticated analysis processes to make them more competitive. Although this is the third fastest-growing area of skills on the web, with demand increasing up to 100% with respect to last year, this skill was second hardest to find, according to Computerworld.
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