The IT landscape is always changing and this constantly brings in new platforms and solutions. As a result, new skills are needed. Here are some of the fastest growing and most in-demand tech skills from the past few months.
The data comes from two different places. One of them is a report from Dice.com which tracked the job postings on the site from April 2015 to April 2016. Skills must appear in at least 1000 job postings to be considered. So this is how the site has found out which are the fastest-growing technology skills needed right now.
The other set of data comes from the freelance marketplace Upwork. It has tracked the listings in its database and has identified the skills needed if you want to be successful in the Internet of Things (IoT). Quite a few developers are interested in IoT since it is promised to be the next big thing. Billions of small devices and sensors are expected to join the web and need proper infrastructure and software.
The fastest growing IT skills
Spark is one becoming one of the most sought after skills. People with enough expertise though are still not enough. You would need to have strong coding skills, though. The standards here are quite high. Opportunities with Spark have jumped 120%.
Microsoft Azure has been around for quite a while. Despite that it is still a platform with a lot of room to grow and it is showing in the open job spots. If you can handle both Azure and Amazon Web Services, then you go straight to the front of the pack. Opportunities with Azure have risen 95%.
Sticking with the cloud, cloud support engineers and cloud specialists as a whole score a 33% increase in demand. A lot of cloud-based applications are popping up and they need qualified people.
Salesforce is also an “old soldier”. But the platform is very popular and there is a serious lack of Database administrators and developers. With the digital transformation in full swing, Salesforce is growing and the opportunities for it for the past year have risen 48%.
All things Big Data are also among the most searched skills. More and more companies are starting to use Big Data to analyze and improve their processes from top to bottom. This means Big Data developers and architects are highly in-demand. They score a 43% increase in job listings for the past year.
Going in the IoT
Getting a bit too technical, Circuit Design is scoring a 231% increase in demand. This is a challenging task, since it requires deep understanding of circuit boards and optimizing power consumption.
Microcontroller programming is also another skill which is among the most wanted for IoT. Job searches are up 225%. It is tricky as there are specific microcontroler languages and few people are skilled enough there.
Machine learning is not only a buzz word. It is one of the top trends and holds a lot of potential for the future. Developing machine learning algorithms, data scientists and analytics are very high on the list. Overall machine learning related jobs are up 199%.
Next up is security infrastructure. IoT devices suffer from poor cybersecurity. Companies are slowly realizing this and starting to work hard toward improving it. Open job positions have jumped 194%.
So there you have it. Tons of opportunities are available for every taste and preference. You will have to put in some effort though, but investing in your skills now will be of great benefit for the future.
Image credit: Flickr (CC) / KIUI