The demand for IT professionals is always growing, but the number of candidates with the necessary qualifications has never been able to keep up with this demand. Between 1995 and 2012, the number of technical jobs grew at a staggering 82%. With technology being such an integral part of daily life, that trend is likely to continue for years to come, but it is no easier to fill those positions today than it was in 1995. Of the employers polled, 81% said they found it incredibly difficult to find people with the right tech skills to do the job.
The Skills Gap Widens with the Speed of Technology
One of the reasons it is so difficult to find people for IT jobs is that there aren’t enough qualified people, but another hindrance is that it is a field that is constantly changing. What this means is that to stay up with technology, businesses are going to have to find people who can fill the gap between current technologies and the latest trends. Those who can learn quickly and implement that technology are going to stand out from other candidates.
The Fastest Growing IT Fields
With IT being an employee’s market, it is helpful to know which jobs are in demand. For example, fewer companies had job openings for information security analysts than other IT fields. This means that you would have fewer options in terms of company and location compared to being a software developer. However, there are also considerably fewer information security analysts than programmers. If you are less particular about the company and location, you will have less competition for jobs as there are fewer qualified candidates.
The following occupations are in the greatest demand, with the first having over 1,000,000 available jobs at the time of the survey:
- Software developer
- Computer support specialist
- Network and computer systems administrator
- Web developer
- Database administrator
- Information security analysts
Developers have always been in demand, with that need growing every year, thanks in large part to apps. Though there are fewer jobs available for database administrators and information security analysts, those jobs are among the most difficult to fill because there are not nearly enough candidates with the right skill sets to keep up with technological changes.
Closing the Skills Gap in Information Technology
While experience is almost always the most sought after qualification, education is a very close second. A candidate who has five years of experience in a field is still likely to be turned down for a candidate who has only 2 years of experience and a bachelor’s degree in the field. This is because experience is limited, but if you have a degree you have a much greater knowledge base to pull from. The IT field is one of the few where you are likely to get a job once you complete your degree without having to go for a master’s or PhD. While those can certainly give you an advantage, employers already have too small a viable candidate pool.
Higher education is constantly updating its curriculum and degree requirements to keep up with current IT demands. Many schools offer degrees that provide the framework for developing a company’s technology with the Cloud. Of course, companies still want experience, and that’s why hands-on learning is so important. At ECPI University's College of Technology, students can get that hands-on experience and, along with an externship, put themselves in a position to begin an exciting career in the growing field of information technology.
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