5 super-cool IT jobs: Get ‘em while they’re hot

Development knowledge, programming expertise, vision to envisage IT as an enabler for business, interpersonal skills to work with all kinds of stakeholders — that’s the making of an IT wizard. However, for the wizard to truly work his or her magic, there has to be the right mapping of skills with jobs. In this guide, we will talk about five amazing vistas where enriching and fulfilling IT jobs of the present and future await.

Big Data engineers

Big Data, artificial intelligence, deep learning, machine learning, data science, predictive analysis — all these are super hot buzzwords in the IT jobs market. What makes them so highly coveted is the fact that at their core, they are all about transforming massive data into business knowledge.

Because the number of sources of data in the average enterprises is on the surge (and likely to surge even more, with IoT becoming mainstream), the amount of data generated every day is unimaginably massive. And to extract value out of the data, enterprises need IT wizards well versed in the groundbreaking technologies that we mentioned earlier.

To make it easier to comprehend, let’s imagine it as the meeting point of two rivers — Big Data, dealing with all aspects of data capture, maintenance, and analysis; and artificial intelligence, that’s the parent set for machine learning, deep learning, cognitive computing, and predictive analysis (kind of like that movie “Minority Report,” although too bad Tom Cruise decided to play Jack Reacher since that role did not make sense for him at all). People with skill and experience in making these technologies are also the ones who do all the talking while negotiating supernormal salaries with enterprises.

Cybersecurity

It’s a no-brainer really; with the global impacts of ransomware like WannaCry and Petya now obvious to the world, enterprises are on track to expand their planned cybersecurity spending in the coming years. Digital security has already become of paramount importance for all kinds of businesses; no wonder that security architects and engineers are already witnessing huge demands.

Current cybersecurity experts would do well to keep their skills in sync with the changing dynamics of the market. The range of skills and relevant certification in cybersecurity is huge.

This calls for a sense of adaptability from cybersecurity professionals to help them stay relevant throughout their career. Interpersonal skills and the vision to envisage cybersecurity as a pillar of any business organization are the key differentiators for cybersecurity professionals with comparable technical skillsets.

IoT engineers

We mentioned how IoT’s business adoption will drive opportunities for data science-related jobs. However, we just can’t ignore the potential it has for IT engineers who can make different devices talk to each other.

IoT has groundbreaking applications in medicine and health care, defense, manufacturing, telecommunications, home automation, consumer electronics, and a lot more. This will create tremendous opportunities for IoT engineers not only in enterprises manufacturing IoT devices, but also companies across verticals looking to ramp up their in-house IT capabilities.

Gartner predicts that there will be 20-plus billion connected devices by 2020. Of course, organizations will need engineers, developers, and integrators to manage, analyze, support, connect, and deploy these devices. That’s where IoT cements its place in this list, as a veritable well of employment opportunities in the near future. Job postings for IoT architects are growing heavily in numbers with every passing year.

Another important aspect to remember is that security of connected devices will be a huge concern for enterprises. This is already regarded as one of the most important offshoots in terms of desired IT skills as far as enterprises are concerned. IT professionals who can get proficient in IoT-specific cybersecurity technologies and processes, or learn programming languages with widespread use across IoT devices, are all set to have bright futures.

VR/AR

Virtual reality and augmented reality (like in the goofy and bizarre movie “Vanilla Sky” — that movie was hard to get through) are often thought to be technologies with limited applications restricted only to vision-heavy industries such as gaming and entertainment. However, as these technologies mature, their potential in enterprise settings, factories management, quality control, education, and several other verticals have emerged.

For instance, Google’s latest iteration of what was originally called Google Glass is being viewed as a device that can solve several real-life problems in industrial settings and factory floors.

Gartner has predicted that immersive technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality will constitute about 20 percent of the digital transformation strategy of enterprises by 2020. This prediction is in line with the fact that enterprises have started adopting immersive technologies to improve existing applications for more intuitive, engaging, and value-adding experiences.

This points toward the tremendous scope of expanding IT jobs and enriching employment opportunities for engineers who can quickly scale up in relevant technologies and marry these technologies to existing business applications.

Full-stack developers

Web services are increasingly becoming accessible in the form of easy-to-use mobile apps. And that’s where the value of full-stack developers and engineers becomes obvious. These wizards are knowledgeable in computer programming languages used for frontend as well as backend systems development.

Their technical skills and programming experience enable them to develop end-to-end applications, clearly envisaging the backend infrastructure aspects, as well as the frontend UI and UX aspects. This also augurs well for developers who are capable of working with open source platforms that make development of useful business apps easy, inexpensive, and agile.

Languages such as Java and .Net will continue to be relevant, and so will be the developers well versed in them. However, programmers with experience in using PHP, HTML/CSS, Node.js, and Python, along with the ability to quickly learn open source languages, will be the ones getting all the attention from enterprise HR and placement consultancies when it comes to these IT jobs. There’s another factor that’s pushing this trend, and that’s the preference of enterprise IT to move away from platforms that require license fees, and adopt open source alternatives.

IT jobs: Get ‘em while they’re hot

For anybody looking to make an important career decision at this point, these five IT jobs offer an enriching and rewarding future, both professionally and financially.

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