30 January 2019

Specialist IT talent is in greater demand than ever before, according to Reed Technology. For its State of Skills online interactive tool, the recruitment firm analysed 10 years of data from Google and O*NET (Occupational Information Network) to find out more about the changing roles, skillsets and software driving the tech sector.

Reed says the research charted a rapid rise in interest over the past five years for roles such as dev ops engineer (986 per cent) and data scientist (428 per cent). At the same time, the company found that interest in more general roles such as web developer have fallen, with a 52 per cent drop from October 2008 to July 2018.

According to Reed, ‘deductive reasoning’ and ‘critical thinking’ ranked as the most valued skills. It adds that within the data scientist role an aptitude for ‘education and training’ is also ranked as most important. “Companies want talent that keeps them ahead of the game and many are turning to niche specialists to achieve this,” says Reed Technology director Andrew Gardner. “Candidates are always searching for the role that makes them indispensable for the next decade – as such, specialist roles are the way to go.”

He continues by saying data is now viewed by companies as the “new “‘oil’”, and businesses want to be able to harvest the benefits it can deliver. “Organisations will be on the hunt for technology specialists who can translate data into commercial gain,” concludes Gardner.