COVID-19 has expedited the digital transformation planned by businesses worldwide. In fact, tech initiatives have become a top priority for organizations to meet unpleasant disruptions. We have also noticed this trend among our clients at Reintech who rely on tech to woo customers.
As a result, the global IT spending is predicted to surpass $4 trillion in 2022, as per Gartner. It will record a growth of 5.5% from 2021 to 2022, indicating a strong demand for tech talents.
As a result, businesses can expect more challenges to hiring IT talents. Research also shows more hiring managers are looking to expand their IT hiring.
Therefore, a strong competition awaits recruiters who want to onboard the best minds in the industry. Here are the top 5 most difficult IT hires we can expect in the present year and beyond.
Table of Contents
1. Artificial Intelligence Professionals
Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a leading technology to revolutionize businesses. It is replacing human capabilities to open new doors for endless possibilities.
For example, AI can replace humans to analyze large sets of data with more efficiency and accuracy. Or, you can use AI to automate repetitive processes like matching invoices with payments.
Coupled with ancillary technologies like machine learning (ML), AI is a top priority for most businesses. According to the 2021 State CIO Survey, it is the second most important consideration for businesses in the next 3 – 5 years.
Therefore, recruiters can find it difficult to find suiting talents to fill their roles. We can expect a shortage of AI engineers who are proficient in ML and other related technologies.
As a result, entrepreneurs can have to pay more to attract top talents in the industry. They may also have to look elsewhere than established markets to hire professionals.
2. Cybersecurity Experts
Cybersecurity has remained a vital area of focus for businesses across the world. It has ranked as the top challenge for years in a row in the CIO survey.
Last year, the concerns over cybersecurity went up several notches. Millions of employees started working from home, bringing in new security implications and vulnerabilities.
In addition, cybercriminals have been busy for the past two years. The number of attacks on businesses and their investments went up several times.
In fact, businesses lost $45 million to just ransomware in 2021. It is also a concern for 57% of CIOs from varying industries, as per 2021 State CIO survey.
In addition, entrepreneurs are afraid of other forms of cybercrime like malware, phishing, and cross-site attacks.
The situation has created a strong demand for cybersecurity experts. Businesses are looking for people who come with a scientific mind to get to the depth of vulnerabilities.
However, that is proving difficult as there is a shortage of proficient security personnel.
3. Software Engineers
Hiring software engineers have always remained a difficulty for businesses. Whether it’s 2010 or 2020, the demand for experienced developers has stayed high.
However, finding the right talent is not the only challenge. Hiring managers face a plethora of difficulties to recruit programmers, like:
- Absence of formal education in tech
- A lack of soft skills
- Demand for high salaries
- Offers from competitors
In addition, businesses struggle to find developers with specific skills. You may have to spend weeks just to get your hands on an adept Angular programmer.
Or, take the case of Ruby programming language for example. It is used by only 6.75% of developers worldwide, as per the Stack Overflow 2021 survey.
As a result, the market has an acute shortage of Ruby talents. You may have to spend several weeks before you can find the right candidate when you want to hire a Ruby developer.
Fortunately, many recruiting agencies are coming up to help entrepreneurs hire remote developers. It can go a long way to mitigate the shortage of software engineers.
4. Cloud Engineers
92% of organizations utilize cloud computing in some way or the other, according to Accenture. In addition, most enterprises are already following a multi-cloud strategy after the pandemic.
A number of factors push up the demand for cloud professionals. One of the biggest one is the modernization of legacy infrastructure and technologies.
As per 2021 State CIO Survey, 60% of businesses have accelerated deployments to modernize their legacy resources.
Moreover, the adoption of SaaS is increasing the demand for cloud professionals. Most software now operates on a subscription model from the cloud instead of on-premise servers.
Therefore, the demand for cloud architects and experienced engineers are more. So, it can lead to a difficult scenario where businesses compete with each other to hire cloud personnel.
Additionally, recruiters will find shortage of cloud security experts.
It can pay to start your hiring drives soon, as there is only 1 cloud professional for 10 vacant positions.
5. Data Scientists
Big data has proven to be the new gold for the 21st Century. However, big data has no use unless you have the right way to analyze it and spot trends and patterns.
That’s where data scientists and data analysts come in. They leverage data analytics tools to dissect large volumes of data to make its sense.
Most importantly, they help businesses answer vital questions and generate crucial insights. These empower an organization to meet disruptions and achieve growth.
As a result, there is a strong demand for data scientists in the market. However, there is not enough suitable talents to fill in the vacant positions.
Therefore, it can be a challenge to find and hire a data scientists or analyst in 2022.
Final Thoughts
Hiring tech talents is a difficult path to tread. You can experience an acute shortage of professionals in the area you want to hire. For 2022, the list of difficult hiring positions includes software engineers, cybersecurity experts, cloud engineers, and data scientists.
Businesses should prepare ahead and plan accurately to hire efficiently. They can look for talents from emerging markets to save costs and access top minds.
In addition, businesses can consider remote hiring to meet the lack of talents.
