10 hottest tech skills for 2016

Ready to dive into the 2016 job market? Here are the 10 skills on track to be most in demand, according to IT pros who participated Computerworld’s Forecast 2016 survey.

1. IT architecture

* 42% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

* The top 10 list starts off with a surprise. Although IT architecture is a fundamental area of expertise for techies at all levels and in various roles, it rarely makes anyone’s list of hot skills.

The term “IT architect” encompasses a wide range of specialists, from enterprise architects to cloud architects, so recruiters say it makes sense that IT architecture expertise is in demand as companies move forward with all sorts of technology-driven projects.

2. Programming/application development

* 40% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

* Despite fears that programming expertise is a commodity that can be obtained cheaply offshore, programming and application development continue to be among the most sought-after skills in enterprise IT.

“Technology touches everything today, and programmers and developers — they’re the ones who make things go,” says Jason Hayman, research manager with TEKsystems, an IT staffing, talent management and services firm.

Demand for programmers and developers is springing up in new areas, too, thanks to the rise of mobile and the emergence of the Internet of Things. Hayman points to the fact that some cars now come off the assembly line with a million lines of code as just one example of how programming’s footprint is widening.

3. Project management

* 39% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

* With almost half (46%) of Forecast survey respondents expecting their technology spending to increase in 2016, it’s no surprise that project management remains a top five skill: More spending means more projects — and that means more people will be needed to manage those projects.

4. Big data

* 36% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

* The surge in interest in using data to drive business has pushed demand for big data skills from No. 10 in last year’s Forecast report to No. 4 today.

Moreover, in the Forecast 2016 survey, big data/analytics was No. 1 on the list of technologies that survey respondents said they were currently beta-testing or using in pilot projects, with 23% saying they were engaged in such initiatives.

When it comes to big data initiatives, “companies are typically looking for someone who can help them manage data and package that data,” says Reed, of Robert Half Technology. “[They want] people who can interpret and then help bring that data to life visually — building dashboards and things of that nature, so the executive suite can push through techspeak and understand what the data is telling them.”

5.Business intelligence/analytics

* 34% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Jeff Remis, a manager at IT staffing and recruiting firm Addison Group, says demand for IT professionals with these skills is strong, particularly in healthcare, insurance, financial services and retail — industries where the use of BI and analytics is more mature than it is in other sectors.

Remis says hiring managers are looking for recruits with technical expertise, but they also want BI specialists who understand the business and the industry. Such requirements put a premium on good candidates.

6. Help desk/technical support

* 30% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Brosius says hiring Tier 1 and Tier 2 support people is a priority at HRHCare, where organizational growth has resulted in burgeoning technology needs. But he acknowledges that competition for talent is tough, so he says he looks for potential as much as experience when evaluating job applicants.

“My recruiting model is to find prospects, people recently graduated from college. I feel they have a well-rounded education, and it gives me confidence that they can communicate and have good customer service skills,” he says. “We can educate them on the tech skills, but you can’t teach personality.”

7. Database administration

* 25% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

* Demand for database administrators remains high thanks to the ever-increasing interest in big data, BI and analytics. The guide also states that salaries for database administration positions will rise by 4% to 9% next year, with pay ranging from about $100,000 to $200,000.

Recruiters say employers want people with extensive backgrounds in database administration and a deep understanding of data reporting tools and technologies such as Oracle, SQL, DB2 and Hadoop.

8. Security/compliance/governance

* 25% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

* Security professionals are in demand and can command high salaries. Exactly 50% of the IT professionals who participated in our Forecast 2016 survey said they plan to increase spending on security technologies in the next 12 months, and security was No. 2 among the most important IT projects that respondents have underway.

Compensation for security pros keeps going up because demand for talented people is strong, and because security specialists play a critical role in most organizations. According to Robert Half Technology’s 2016 Salary Guide, salaries in the security field will rise about 5% to 7% next year, ranging from $100,000 on up to nearly $200,000 on average.

9. Cloud/SaaS

* 25% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

* Research firm IDC predicts that more than half of enterprise IT infrastructure and software investments will be cloud-based by 2018. Specifically, spending on public cloud services will grow to more than $127 billion by 2018, according to an IDC forecast report.

10. Web development

* 24% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

* Web development continues to crack the Computerworld Forecast list of the top 10 most in-demand IT skills because organizations have come to rely heavily on the Web as a channel for connecting with customers, clients, partners and employees since they built their first websites a decade or two ago, IT leaders say.

While they don’t need Web developers to establish a Web presence anymore, they do need people with the ability to ensure that their sites are open and ready for business.

Source : http://www.computerworld.com/