With 2022 fast approaching, it is useful to review your own skillsets against the tech skills that will be in demand in the coming years, to determine the anticipated growth areas, and the types of upskilling that you might need.
In the annals of history, 2021 is likely to be viewed as a robust year in which many industries experienced growth, and their fortunes (and prospects) improving considerably from 2020. To an appreciable degree, the growth and recovery organisations have realised has been due to the extent to which they leveraged technology, which improved their efficiency, productivity, agility, flexibility, resiliency and innovation. More importantly, the accelerated adoption of technology, especially cloud, artificial intelligence, automation and big data, to name just a few, is irrevocably pushing the world further down the path of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which in turn is transforming the job market.
In the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report 2020, a number of labour and labour market-related trends were highlighted, including the following:
- The pace of technology adoption is expected to remain unabated and may accelerate in some areas.
- Automation, in tandem with the COVID-19 recession, is creating a ‘double-disruption’ scenario for workers.
- Although the number of jobs destroyed will be surpassed by the number of ‘jobs of tomorrow’ created, in contrast to previous years, job creation is slowing while job destruction accelerates.
- By 2025, 85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines, while 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms.
- Skills gaps continue to be high as in-demand skills across jobs change in the next five years.
- The window of opportunity to reskill and upskill workers has become shorter in the newly constrained labour market.
These findings emphasise the fact that the job market is changing rapidly, and that both employees and employers ought to be proactive in adjusting to the new paradigm, in order to minimise losses on all sides. Below we outline some of the tech skills and certifications that will be in-demand in 2022 and beyond.
In-demand tech skills
Although the IT and ICT fields are especially broad in terms of the range of specialties they encompass, the areas of particular demand tend to those that are essential to facilitate and support digital transformation, which was accelerated over the past two years. Four areas for which skills are in high demand are highlighted below.
- Cloud computing – As organisations continue to shift from server-based infrastructure to the cloud, there has been and will continue to be a demand for cloud computing skills. Of particular note are the cloud architect and engineer roles, which are the ones that design cloud solutions for organisations and manage the migration of an organisation’s operation from its server-based system to the cloud.
- Coding – Computer programmers continues to be in demand, as software underpins all of technology upon which rely. (See our recent article “Best programming languages to learn in 2021”, which highlights the most in demand programming languages.) However, it should be noted that the demand is broad. Expert programmers are needed to build enterprise solutions and commercial software products and services; but there is also a need for individuals who can assist organisations with customising existing products. Additionally, it is anticipated that employees who are not in a coding or software development role will need to have, at the very least, a basic knowledge for computer programming, which would improve their general proficiency with technology and allow them to perform more basic computing operations on their own.
- Cybersecurity – The exponential increase in cyberattacks and cyberthreats over the past two years in particular has emphasised the need, and has driven the demand, for more cybersecurity professionals. Some of the areas that are most in demand include: threat intelligence; penetration testing; incident handling; as wells as governance, risk management and compliance.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning – Although it might seem that AI and machine learning are still the stuff of science fiction, the growing use of chatbots, our homes becoming smarter, and our increasing reliance of virtual assistants, highlight that fact that this area is already becoming even more deeply established in our lives. Some of the more in demand skills are for specific programme languages, such as Python, Java, R and TensorFlow, and for Natural Language Processing expertise.
In-demand IT skills certifications
Securing IT certification from recognised bodies is a confirmation that an individual possesses certain skills and expertise, which is becoming increasingly valuable in the job market of today and of the future. Moreover, highly skilled tech personnel continue to be in demand, and so can lucrative careers, especially if the possess one or more of the more coveted certifications.
As It relates to highly marketable and in-demand qualifications, certifications from ISACA and for the AWS, Google, Microsoft platforms tend to be at the top of the list:
A final word
Although this article has focussed on technical skills and certifications, it is important to emphasise the soft skills, including digital literacy, critical thinking, adaptability, interpersonal skills, teamwork and leadership, which are also crucial in order to to fully leverage the opportunities of the professional workplace. Among techies and IT/ICT specialists, these soft skills are often overlooked, but they are vital to achieve the career advancement that is envisaged, especially for senior or management roles.
Thanks to the internet, numerous avenues are available to develop and learn new skills. The most important thing is to determine the areas in which you are deficient and would like to be more proficient, and to devise a strategy to close that gap.
Image credit; Gerd Altmann (Pixabay)
