The technology landscape continues to evolve and boom across all sectors in 2021. As a specialist IT recruitment agency, we have seen the demand for technology skills skyrocket first-hand. There are many contributing factors to this spike, the obvious one being the pandemic sending businesses scrambling to update their digital infrastructure.
So, what are the most sought-after IT skills in 2021? Using data from Jobtensor, the live jobs ranking board powered by AI, we highlight the most in-demand skills employers are currently on the hunt for.
If you are looking to invest in skill development or choose a new IT career, this list is a great place to start to get an idea of what is hot on the market in 2021.
The 10 in-demand IT skills for 2021:
1. SQL
SQL is a domain-specific language used in programming and stands for Structured Query Language. It is designed to manage data held in relational data management systems (RDBMS), or stream processing in a relational data streaming management system (RDBMS). SQL databases are efficient and currently trusted by long-established standard organisations such as ISO and ANSI.
2. Python
Python is a programming language created in 1991 by Guido Van Rossum. It is currently used for web development, software development, mathematics, and system scripting. The language works well across different platforms (Windows, Mac, Raspberry Pi, etc) and its syntax means that developers can write in fewer lines than other programmes. Its biggest benefit is that it runs on an interpreter system, meaning code can be executed as soon as it is written. This is great for rapid prototyping or production-ready software development.
3. Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
SDLC is not a hard skill but a methodology. It is a set of standard business practices used to drive the creation of software applications. It usually has around six to eight steps: planning, requirements, design, building, documenting, testing, deployment and maintaining.
Those in project management roles who have experience in supporting an application through the core components of this lifecycle and knowledge of delivering in this manner will have no issues being snapped up by end clients or hirers.
4. JavaScript
JavaScript is a scripting/programming language and allows coders to implement complex features and/or designs on web pages. These features include interactive maps, animated graphics, videos, and time-triggered content updates. HTML is a language that is used to give structure to a webpage, whereas by incorporating JavaScript you can vastly improve the user’s experience of a webpage. Basically, if there is something dynamic on a webpage, you can be sure that JavaScript is involved.
5. AWS
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is an on-demand cloud computing platform delivering IT resources over the internet to customers globally on a pay-as-you-go price plan. AWS saves businesses money because they no longer need to own or maintain their own data centres. Instead, they can access these services remotely. The market is hot for specialists with experience in AWS because around 90% of companies are now running on a hosted cloud service.
6. Azure
Created by Microsoft, Azure is a cloud computing system that is used for building, deploying, and managing applications/services through Microsoft’s own data centres. Azure offers similar services to AWS and as previously mentioned, many businesses are now on the cloud and need specialists to support their services. Azure supports a variety of programming languages, software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS).
7. Data Analysis
Data analysis is the art of inspecting, cleaning, transforming and modelling data in order to extract useful information to support decision making and project outcomes. Those in data analysis related roles will do more than just look at data. They will also be involved in collecting data, its organisation, storage, and techniques for getting the most of it. Essentially you need to take raw data and turn it into something useful for a business.
8. HTML
HTML stands for Hypertext Mark-up Language and its purpose is to define the structure of content on web pages. It involves a series of elements that enclose different types of content to make it appear in a certain way. HTML is not a programming language, meaning that it cannot be used to create dynamic features like CSS or JavaScript can, it acts more as a way to organise a webpage or applications paragraphs, headings, links, and quotations.
9. DevOps
At its core, DevOps is the practice of automating and integrating processes between software development and operational IT teams. This hybrid of development and operations allow teams to fluidly build, test and release reliable software faster. DevOps is more like a framework than anything else. It is an infinite loop that consists of six phases: plan, code, build, test, release, deploy, operate, and monitor. By following this framework, you can shorten the delivery timeline of a product and provide consistent results.
10. Java
First released in 1995, Java is a general-purpose, object-orientated programming language designed for lesser implementation dependencies. It is also used as a computing platform in many applications because it is fast, secure, and reliable. Therefore, it is favoured by many organisations to build their digital projects across the globe.
