Which tech occupations are in demand right now? According to the ninth edition of the Dice Tech Job Report, organizations need tech professionals for a variety of roles, from software developer to data science manager.
The tech unemployment rate currently stands at just 2 percent, despite scary headlines about recession and economic uncertainty. Virtually every company needs tech help in some way, whether to build a website or maintain complex cloud architecture.
To understand the true scope of the ramp-up in tech demand we’ve seen just over the past year, there’s perhaps no more powerful statistic than a 139.5 percent increase in job postings for software development engineers between 2021 and 2022. Two other roles, back-end engineers (+121.5 percent) and data science managers (+103.1 percent), also saw postings more than double year-over-year; 14 of the top 15 occupations for YoY growth ballooned more than 50 percent.
Another strong indicator of spiking demand can be seen in the growth of the most ubiquitous tech roles. The lowest growth rate for the top five occupations by tech job posting volume was for business analysts at 21 percent. Software engineer postings grew 28.4 percent year-over-year, with systems engineer postings rising 31.4 percent. Other data-related roles were among the highest in both posting volume and growth: data analysts, data scientists and data engineers. Companies everywhere have awakened to the need to process and analyze data to discover trends and refine strategy.
Meanwhile, growth and volume statistics show major increases in postings for engineering, development and data-related roles. What’s behind this surge? Organizations are leaning into digital transformation initiatives and continuing to fill out their core tech teams. That’s likely good news for technology professionals with core skills, as you remain the type of technology talent that every organization needs to not only pursue digitization and forward-looking initiatives, but also to run basic business operations. For example, Help Desk Specialist postings saw a 90 percent increase between 2021 and 2022.
What does this mean for tech professionals? No matter what your particular skill-set, chances are good there’s an opportunity out there for you—but you need to keep your skills up-to-date, and craft a resume and application that put those skills in the best possible light. If you land a job interview, make sure that your answers break down how your skills and experience can help the organization achieve its goals.
For more crucial insights (and nifty charts!), check out the Dice Tech Job Report! As you plot your career for 2023 and beyond, use this data to help determine which skills to learn and opportunities to pursue.
