Are Your Technology Skills Too Niche? Think Again!

It’s now widely accepted among recruitment professionals that skills are the new currency, and as the digital sector grows, niche technology skills are the most valuable and stable currency of all.

So if you think your technology skills are too niche, think again!

“It’s easier to stand out from the job seeking crowd when you have a unique combination of skills, experience or attributes”

Guardian

Five years ago, many of the technology jobs we are now recruiting for didn’t exist. New types of work and new technological functions mean that new positions, in new fields, and new niche large enterprise technologies are arising all of the time. The call for specialist skills to fill them is louder than ever!

So Which ‘Niche’ Skills Are in Demand in 2021?

The UK, Europe and around the world there is a shortfall in digital skills, and large organisations are competing to secure the rare talent with the niche skills that they need. 

Global Knowledge produced a 2020 IT Skills and Salary Report with data from 9,000 IT professionals about which niche IT areas were in most demand. The data shows the following to be the top ten most sought after skills;

  1. Cybersecurity
  2. Cloud computing
  3. Data analytics and data science
  4. Networking and wireless
  5. Software development
  6. AI and machine learning
  7. Project management
  8. Programming
  9. IT service management
  10. Virtualization

 

Cyber Security

At the top of the list, Cyber Security is clearly a priority for all organisations. Worldwide more than 50% of technology leaders will be increasing investment in cybersecurity, this has already been the case for the last five years running.

“As the amount, frequency, and creativity of cybersecurity breaches grow, so does the shortage of cybersecurity professionals with the appropriate skills to defend the enterprise, government and military networks,”

Brad Puckett, Global Knowledge

Cloud Computing

Cloud is inescapable illustrated by the advance of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud services. It is truly changing the game with cloud adoption and migration now the second highest area of IT investment. Cloud skills will certainly remain in high demand and notably, they cross over with every other skill on our list.

According to IDC, Cloud Adoption and Opportunities Will Continue to Expand Leading to a $1 Trillion Market in 2024.

Data analytics and data science

Managing data will not go away and the importance of its analysis means data scientists and analysts are much in demand. Their understanding is vital to making the informed decisions and gaining value from the data being mined and captured. It is predicted that by 2025 we will be processing 10 x the volume of data from 2016, this equates to 163 zettabytes (ZB).

Networking and wireless

Cisco, a leader in wireless and networking technology predicts that the number of network connected devices will be three times more than the global population by 2023. No doubt network engineers and network administrators will be required in increasing numbers to manage this expansion.

Software development

Development, whether front-end development or back-end, is currently growing faster than most other IT skills required, this is not expected to change in the short term.  It is anticipated that software development growth will be 21% by 2028 with applications developer demand increasing by 28%.

The area of mobile app development is still cited as an area of skill lacking in many organisations so so being certified in this area will be valuable.

AI and machine learning

Big data and the ever increasing volume of data processing required for data-driven decision making will in turn drive the adoption and development of artificial intelligence (AI). Patterns, trends and valuable information can be quickly identified by AI and machine learning which could never be achieved by traditional methods.

Predictions by IDC again suggest that whilst the AI market may have been impacted by the pandemic, double digit growth will be maintained and AI will recover with enterprise demand for productivity and resilience.

Project management

There are many obstacles and challenges to overcome before IT projects can be successfully implemented. Project managers have to create a project strategy as well as communicate it and push it through to completion. In fact, communication and change management can be considered among the most valuable niche skills.

It is proposed by IDC that by 2022 the global impact of the skills gap in IT will rise to £600 billion from a figure of £230 billion in 2019 due to delays in releases and escalating costs. Focused and agile change and project management is required to mitigate these expenses.

Programming

There may be an expected decline in computer programming per se but coding will see a significant increase over the coming years. Python, JavaScript and C# as well as coding for mobile apps will see demand for programmers increase.

With organistions becoming ever more reliant on data and online services requirements for programmers will certainly continue to rise.

IT service management

The management of IT services plays an important role in all organisations’ ability to meet their business objectives. Recent challenges of disjointed and remote workforces and rapid transitions to online services have relied heavily upon managing the associated technology solutions.

Best practice in managing the vast range of digital toolsets is crucial, such as DevOps, SIAM, Site Reliability Engineering, Cloud, Serverless Computing, Software-Defined Networking, AI, the list goes on.

Virtualisation

By helping to reduce IT costs and improve IT agility, virtualisation will attract wide interest from companies of all sizes. It has been ranked eighth highest tech interest worldwide and strong demand is being seen for VMware Certified Professionals, Data Centre Professionals and Citrix Certified Professional.

Find your next niche role

Think your technology skills are too niche? Well, think again. We specialise in niche technology recruitment for the large enterprise sectors. Is this you? Talk to us about what ‘niche’ skills you can offer your next opportunity today or start your technology job search here.

Your niche technology skills are your currency, submit your CV here. Now is the time to cash them in!

Are you looking for niche technology talent? Talk to us about the candidates we currently have in our network.