So what are the most in demand occupations now and what will they be in the future? That is the question I sat down to research so I could tell all of my incoming freshmen how they made the right choice in picking their major. However, finding the answer that was free of hubris, parochialism, and hidden agendas was harder than I anticipated. I went to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most current data and pulled the following information:
- The fastest growing occupations projected out to 2031 included Data Scientists, Information Security Analysts, Statisticians, Web Developers and Logisticians in the Top Fifteen.
- The fastest growing occupations projected out to 2031 with a Bachelor Degree or higher required have Data Scientists, Information Security Analysts, Statisticians and Web Developers in the Top Five, with Logisticians narrowly missing out.
- The field of Computer Support Specialists will grow 6% until 2031
While I obviously do encourage cybersecurity professionals to get a Bachelors or Master’s degree for upward mobility, I am not sure that an Associate’s degree was given the weight it deserves, especially for adult learners or those making a career switch. If the AA holder also has industry certifications, they will be highly employable in the cybersecurity field in entry-level positions.
There a lot of job opportunities now in the IT industry for people who have experience working with open source technologies. A Statista survey on most sought-after open source skills for computer professionals by the tech industry from last year listed cloud technologies, Linux and cybersecurity at the top. The same survey listed the following as the hottest skillsets as determined by open source professionals worldwide:
- Ability to architect solutions based on open source software
- Knowledge of new tools
- Experience using open source development tools on places such as Github, which has over 100 million developers worldwide using it.
While the above is a mere snapshot of the employment outlook indicators and statistics swirling around us, it is very encouraging for those who are planning to or considering work in the tech sector in the future. I don’t see it slowing down any time soon, either.
