Who Google, Facebook, Deloitte, Amazon are looking for: the most popular IT professions in 2022

The IT sphere is the most dynamic and rapidly developing industry. The constant branching of specializations and the growth of the sector by approximately 35-40% per year provokes a constantly high demand for developers of various levels. Over the past 12 months, there has been an increase in demand for AI/ML technology engineers.

Research by the international consulting company McKinsey shows that the share of companies that have implemented or plan to implement artificial intelligence and neural networks in their work processes has reached 57%. It is AI/ML developers who are the most searched for on Google, as well as Facebook, Deloitte and Amazon. This is evidenced by the analysis of vacancies posted on the Indeed resource.

Which domains, stacks and positions should be prioritized in 2022

The most popular domains are:

• Healthcare is a direction that gained momentum with the start of the coronavirus pandemic;
• Fintech — the field of local IT products in the financial sphere;
• Gambling is the most profitable part of the IT industry, which employs many investors and startup founders;
• Blockchain is a field with a lot of ideas and startups that should add comfort to ordinary people.

The projected size of the cyber security market in 2026 is $345.4 billion. Total digitization provokes many hacker attacks. To protect their data from attackers, companies are in dire need of support and cyber security specialists. Big business in 2022 will lose about 20 billion dollars due to the imperfection of the security system. And this year is not over yet.

The security system of companies suffers from cyber-attacks and virus software, which leads to the blocking of personal files of users and their PCs. The goal of the hackers is to receive a ransom for restoring access. Experts predict that in a decade the losses from such crimes could amount to 265 billion dollars annually. Such disappointing scenarios force popular companies to quickly look for engineers who can ensure the protection of their systems.

The demand for WEB Designer jobs and developers who create programs for the iOS and Android operating systems is not decreasing. Analysts of the German company Statista show that the global value of mobile applications is 6.3 trillion dollars. Four years ago, the capitalization was equal to 1.3 trillion dollars. So estimate for yourself the speed of growth of the sector and, accordingly, the need for developers.

The DwvOps direction is also increasing the pace of development. The results of the GitLab analysis show that the number of DevOps users has increased by 8.9% over the past two years. By 2022, DevOps will be used by 35.9% of respondents. Also, according to analytics, SRE developers are included in the list of “the most in-demand IT professions in 2022.” They are responsible for the reliability, scalability and smooth operation of digital infrastructures.

Data processing and Big Data specialists and Python developers who have experience working with data mining teams remain popular. Automation tools are becoming more and more popular, freeing IT professionals from routine tasks such as code generation.

What does the request for soft skills and the year look like

In 2019, LinkedIn Global Talent Trends conducted research on the IT labor market. The results showed that 92% of employers place Backend job developers, where they are looking for candidates with developed soft skills: the ability to find a common language with colleagues and work in a team, find creative solutions. Three years after the study, the situation remained unchanged. Careers at Google require developers who are able to listen to the team, use the collective mind, and not trudge through the task alone.

Employers have understood the value of software, because they have understood that most often, failures in work are a consequence of the inability to interact in a team. And insufficient expertise of a particular employee may be unnecessary. No matter how perfect a developer is, if the team does not want to deal with him, his professionalism is completely useless.

Each company builds its soft-skills rating, in accordance with the direction of activity and business values. But we tried to highlight the main soft skills of popular programmers in Ukraine and the world:

• Communication skills – how an IT person interacts with different people, regardless of their experience, character and background. To what extent a person manages to explain difficult moments and his thoughts. Is able to think critically and benefit from discussions.
• Productive collaboration — whether an employee will help improve a project or complement a colleague in various skills
• Curiosity – whether the developer has a lively mind or explores information from different angles. Does he look for unusual ways of solving problems?
• Creativity — whether the candidate is able to find creative approaches to solving problems.

The stereotype that programmers are introverted geeks who are interested in nothing but finding bugs and creating codes is no longer relevant. Currently, it is not so much computer enthusiasts who aspire to the IT field as people who want to earn well and, preferably, conduct their activities remotely. Therefore, the set of soft skills of Ukrainian and international companies has changed. HR agencies in Lviv, when recruiting personnel for various areas in IT, look not only at professional skills, but also assess how well the candidate will fit into the team.

You can see current skills on the LinkedIn resource, which publishes a list of in-demand soft skills every year. And in order to understand your weaknesses and strengths, we recommend taking a DISK or MBTI test.