After a turbulent 2023 marked by job cuts by huge tech companies, 2024 may see a extra constructive outlook for IT professionals within the U.Okay. Tech staff on the lookout for new roles might discover there may be specific demand for synthetic intelligence and cloud experience, in addition to a necessity for softer expertise round communications and managing groups.
Is there a scarcity of IT expertise within the UK?
There was a long-term IT expertise scarcity within the U.Okay. About two million individuals within the U.Okay. work in tech, however there’s nonetheless demand for extra.
In line with U.Okay. authorities figures, the extent of “skills-shortage vacancies,” which is the place a job can’t be crammed because of an absence of expertise, {qualifications} or expertise amongst candidates, could be very excessive within the data and communications sector; it climbed from an already excessive 25% in 2017 to 43% in 2022, the final yr for which knowledge is obtainable. And there’s loads of proof that the IT expertise shortages proceed. Even when the depth of the scarcity varies from yr to yr, there’s a transparent long-term want for extra tech employees within the U.Okay.
Analysis by Amazon Internet Companies in 2023 discovered that greater than two thirds (68%) of UK companies discovered it difficult to rent the digital staff they want, and 45% mentioned this was because of a scarcity of certified candidates. A separate latest survey by Gigged.AI discovered that 91% of respondents to its UK survey have been grappling with a tech expertise scarcity to a point; roughly a 3rd (34%) mentioned they confronted large-to-very-large tech expertise shortages.
What are essentially the most in-demand tech jobs and expertise within the UK for 2024?
Most in-demand tech jobs within the UK
Six tech jobs made LinkedIn’s Jobs on the Rise 2024 record of the highest 25 jobs within the U.Okay. which are most in demand.
- Synthetic intelligence engineer (#7 on LinkedIn’s record).
- Safety operations heart analyst (#10).
- Cyber safety supervisor (#11).
- Cyber safety architect (#15).
- Knowledge governance supervisor (#16).
- Knowledge engineer (#25).
Different jobs on the highest 25 record additionally had some involvement with tech, resembling sustainability supervisor at #1, chief income officer at #4 and demand technology supervisor at #8.
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In line with the 2024 Wage Information analysis from recruitment firm Robert Half, essentially the most in-demand everlasting tech jobs within the U.Okay. are:
- Full-stack developer.
- ERP/CRM engineer.
- Head of IT.
- Cloud infrastructure engineer.
- Cyber safety analyst.
Probably the most in-demand contract tech jobs within the U.Okay., in accordance with Robert Half, are:
- ERP/CRM implementation challenge supervisor.
- Infrastructure supervisor.
- Community engineer.
- First-line assist.
- Second-line assist.
Most in-demand tech expertise within the UK
Robert Half analysis mentioned essentially the most in-demand technical expertise for 2024 within the U.Okay. are:
- Cloud computing, together with Amazon Internet Companies, Azure and Google Cloud.
- Microsoft Dynamics.
- Netsuite.
- SAP.
- Python.
- SQL.
Kris Harris, regional director of U.Okay. expertise options at Robert Half, advised TechRepublic in an e-mail that there was additionally plenty of curiosity in cybersecurity, machine studying and AI, knowledge dealing with and storytelling, which incorporates manipulation and visualization. As well as, person expertise design and cloud information are nonetheless common expertise with employers. He mentioned there had been a slight decline in on-premise infrastructure and community expertise, that are largely being changed by cloud information.
“The uptick in cloud-based sources can be lowering among the want for knowledge centre operatives in addition to these with bodily machine administration capabilities. Wanting forward, it’s seemingly that we are going to additionally see a decline in conventional community engineering/system admin calls for as we transfer in direction of extra knowledge, cyber and cloud necessities,” Harris mentioned.
What’s the highest paying IT job within the UK?
Chief Info Officer tops the record of highest paying IT jobs within the U.Okay., with many salaries ranging between £105,000 and £176,000; nonetheless, Chief Know-how Officers, Chief Info Safety Officers and Chief Architect roles all have comparable pay ranges relying on the scale of the organisation. For comparability, a front-end developer can count on to earn someplace between £44,000 and £76,000, mentioned the Robert Half knowledge.
What’s the outlook for IT jobs within the UK in 2024 and past?
Harris mentioned there’ll nonetheless be a excessive demand for expert expertise sources, largely pushed by SME companies.
“Enterprise platform enhancements, optimisation of knowledge and the continued requirement for enterprise expertise development will stay. We’re at present seeing sectors resembling SaaS, training, healthcare, monetary companies and retail, in addition to the federal government, all investing in tech improvement, and we don’t count on this to alter any time quickly,” he mentioned.
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Recruitment firm Nash Squared mentioned one rising development that will develop into more and more widespread in future years is fractional working. That is primarily the place a person works on a contract or contractor foundation however has a portfolio of part-time assignments concurrently.
“It’s a longtime mode for sure senior roles — resembling a fractional CISO or CIO — however is starting to unfold additional down the layers of the workforce to incorporate extra junior positions,” mentioned Andy Heyes, managing director UK&I and Central Europe at Harvey Nash, a part of Nash Squared.
“By partaking a fractional government, companies can extra surgically apply their skilled capabilities, driving up effectivity and pushing down useful resource prices. For a lot of corporations, it’s merely getting access to a extremely skilled skilled who has the scars and bruises of getting achieved it earlier than, is aware of the place the pitfalls are, and the ways which have confirmed outcomes, and that in and of itself can save quite a lot of time, cash, and scale back danger,” he advised TechRepublic in an e-mail. Whereas that is nonetheless comparatively uncommon within the UK, he mentioned, it’s extra widespread in Europe.
What tech expertise do you have to be taught in 2024?
Tech is a fast-moving trade, which signifies that what’s scorching proper now won’t be so thrilling to employers in a couple of years time. Nonetheless, it’s seemingly that AI, cloud computing and cybersecurity will proceed to create regular demand over the following few years. It’s additionally price keeping track of the record of high programming languages: at present, Python, C, C++, Java and C# are the preferred languages with builders, in accordance with the TIOBE Index.
It’s additionally key to do not forget that softer expertise are very important when altering jobs, and constructing on these will assist to future-proof your CV. In line with Robert Half, essentially the most in-demand comfortable expertise for tech staff are communication expertise, stakeholder administration and other people administration. As well as, IT leaders mentioned it’s arduous to seek out candidates with strategic pondering and enterprise expertise, so that is probably an space the place you possibly can stand out.