The future of IT jobs and the competition for talent

While it’s considered the best of times to be working in the IT field, it could very well be the worst of times for HR managers to fill IT positions — especially if they’re working for non-enterprise companies. The demand for IT experts is so high that unemployment rates in the field are among the lowest across the nation.

Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics bear this out: Unemployment rates in certain areas of the IT industry are as low as 1 percent for jobs, including network engineers and software developers.

And that’s causing IT managers no small amount of stress. About 81 percent of IT managers and leaders, for example, have reported that they’re finding it challenging to find talent in the field, according to a TEKsystems survey. Microsoft had been predicting that innovations would fuel the demand for jobs related to cloud computing — at a rate of 26 percent a year from 2012 to 2015.

One of the most concerning areas for hiring managers is a lack of talent to fill cybersecurity jobs. Currently, about 300,000 of those positions are unfilled and the number is expected to grow to at least 1 million by 2020.

Besides cybersecurity professionals, here are some of the IT jobs that are expected to be in high demand in 2016 and beyond, according to numerous sources:

Data scientists. Harvard Business Review has described the data scientist as the sexiest job in recent history, while other experts have agreed that it will be one of the hottest jobs for the foreseeable future as companies grapple with how to best use massive amounts of data to reach company goals.

Cloud architect. With public cloud infrastructure and hybrid cloud adoption getting plenty of attention, IT with this area as a specialty will be increasingly in demand.

Network engineers. Networking professionals will be in demand in 2016 to ensure the continued growth of business, said Anthony Gilbert, technical recruiter for Mondo, in an article for Network World. “Our clients are still relying heavily on skilled networking professionals across all verticals to make sure they’re stable, always on and secure — we don’t see that going away,” Gilbert says.

With the competition for IT talent increasing, getting the resources you need may get increasingly challenging. Lifeline Data Centers can provide solutions through our colocation data center. Contact us to learn more.

Other resources:

• Infographic: The 22 Data Center Compliance Acronyms You Need to Know
• White Paper: Why Data Center Compartmentalization is Important
• Lifeline One Sheet: What You Need to Know About Lifeline Data Centers

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.