With the rapid growth in technology over the last few decades, organizations need to find talent that can keep up. This demand requires new skills and expertise. What are the skills that companies and IT professionals are looking for these days? Let’s take a look.
Cloud Skills
Cloud adoption is steadily rising and it’s estimated that 90% of organizations will host at least some part of their IT environment in the cloud by the end of the year. Skill in maintaining, monitoring, and securing the cloud are among the most valuable in the space.
Big Data or Database Skills
Another hot topic in the last few years has been “Big Data”. As companies collect more and more data they need talented individuals that can quantify and visualize this data. Not only that but executives need to use this data to make real-time decisions. Having talented business intelligence professionals at your disposal is a big time plus.
Application Developers
Apps are everywhere. They are on our phone, or computer, and our tablet devices. We use tons of apps every single day and are exposed to hundreds or thousands every single year. Application development is steadily growing and talented developers can be hard to come by sometimes. This is certainly a valuable skill entering 2015.
Cyber Security
We have talked about the rise in cyber attacks over the past year. Just when we thought things were dying down before the holidays we get another jaw dropper from Sony. Regardless of all the successful attacks, it’s the unsuccessful ones you rarely hear about. The security professionals that keep attackers from succeeding are a lifeline no company can live without.
Project Management
Not all of us in the IT world are technologically savvy. Meaning not all of us are programmers or security analysts. Some of us manage the IT department projects. Having the skills to not only understand the complex world of IT but be able to organize and manage projects of all types and scale is a great tool to have in your arsenal.
IT skills are a rare find sometimes. The demand for top talent almost always exceeds the supply. Of course, this is sure to change over time as younger generations have technology and information more engrained in their every day lives. I mean, how many kids these days do you know that can’t work a computer, or a smartphone, or a tablet? Not very many. Hopefully they’ll be the next generation of top rated IT professionals.