Miniseries: The Future of Cybersecurity, Engineering and IT jobs.
With the whole world now inter-connected, most people will continue using their personal devices on a daily basis to check email, navigate their cars, and use various applications. This means Information Technology (IT) experts will be increasingly sought-after to support our tablets, computers, smartphones, and cloud storage, as well as develop new software apps.
What do cybersecurity, engineering and Information Technology jobs have in common? If you have read this article about the future of cybersecurity jobs or this article about the future of engineering jobs, you might already know it: the professionals in all these fields are and will be in high demand.
Best IT jobs
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is expecting computer and IT jobs to grow 12 percent from 2014 – 2024. This will add almost 500,000 new jobs in the US alone. Most IT jobs require at least Bachelor’s degree, but studying pays off. IT experts earn almost $45,000 more annually than the national average. The 2015 median annual wage for IT experts was $81,430; the median annual wage for all occupations was $36,200.
The three best-paid occupations include: computer and information research scientist, computer network architect, and software developer. A computer and information research scientist “designs innovative uses for existing technology”. It can be applied to medicine, science or business ($110,620-2015 median pay). Computer network architects ($110,240) build communication networks and intranets. Software developers ($100,690) create new applications and computer programs.
Future Predictions for IT jobs
The so called “Fourth Industrial Revolution” is expected to transform all industries and new jobs will emerge. New areas will be gaining more momentum. The World Economic Forum predicts the biggest drivers of change in the IT sector to be mobile internet and cloud technology (34 %), processing power and Big Data (26 %), new technologies (22 %), Internet of Things (14 %), alongside demographic and socio-economic changes.
Information technology jobs will require new skills in the future. These skills will be very different from those we know today. IT professionals already utilize science and engineering while developing computer networks, hardware or software. It makes our everyday communication more effective and faster. This trend will continue as IT experts work on more complex issues, such as artificial intelligence, programming, cryptography, or mobile computing.
The impact of these changes will affect the whole job market. Because it takes a long time to offset the negative impact of these coming changes, the IT sector should start taking action now. For example, employers could start to re-skill current employees, support mobility and job rotation, and support collaborative educational institutions. These changes will determine the future of the IT industry and the overall job outlook.
In the short-term predictions, IT skills will continue to be in high demand and this will not change anytime soon. In the long-term, the biggest demand will be for jobs dealing with cloud storage, Big Data, or Internet of Things. The top 5 future jobs until 2020 are predicted to be Mobile Application Developer, Database Administrator, Software Engineer, Video Game Designer, and Network Administrator. The growth for these types of jobs is projected to be around 30%.