The tech fraternities’ pushback on AI tools points to a future of progressive trepidation – but we think there is immense opportunity for tech workers.
For all the talk of efficiency, content wizardry and coding super support, anyone who’s anyone knows that without effective oversight and education of any tool, especially AI, they can be abused and put to ill use.
From deep fakes to bot farms, not to mention the already-present socio-ethical grey area around a machine that hallucinates facts and has been jailbroken a thousand times, AI has fast become synonymous with the possibilities of unregulated technical incursion into work, life, community and creativity.
But that said, our future is very much technically-led and will be built on a fully-integrated culture based on IoT, AI and automation. Building that future requires a lot of very talented, niche-skilled people.
The implications of a tech-centric society are incredible, and the career opportunities for people are limitless. Between now, and our IoT then, the jobs of the future are being built on the labour of today.
So here is everything you need to know about the 9 most in-demand tech jobs.
Software Developers.
Average Salary (UK): £43056 per year.
Despite brutal workplace turbulence in some of the world’s most established tech companies, “As of 2021, the tech talent shortage amounted to 40 million qualified developers and engineers worldwide, expected to reach 85.2 million by 2030”.
That said, for all the bad press and indicators that we’re in a tech winter, “the number (of total staff) let go was typically no more than 5% to 6% of the total workforce, according to Gartner Research”.
Software Development is, objectively, one of the most in-demand roles worldwide and, despite press reports to the contrary, still a popular and much-needed role.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Specialists.
Average Salary (UK): £52,034 per year.
We don’t need to add our voice to the chorus of opinions – both for and against – AI. But it’s clear as day that the revolutionary NLP models created by OpenAI/Microsoft, Adobe, Amazon and Google will change the world as we know it.
Whilst reports state that only the world’s largest companies can truly create effective machine learning tools (due to the data sets required to “teach” products like ChatGPT), thereby bracketing the industry in the hands of the world’s largest tech companies, open-source developers are entering the fray in an effort to keep large NLP models accessible and subject to scrutiny and oversight.
AI Specialists are already hot real estate, and the demand will only grow – plus, without targeted skills investment and training, “skills shortages are causing businesses to fall behind in their adoption of cutting-edge technology”.
Blockchain Developers.
Average Salary (UK): £54,450 per year.
Blockchain is, despite much of the tech oxygen being sucked up by AI, a much-in-demand emerging technology, and the possibilities for application are nearly endless.
The talent that will build and support our inevitably integrated blockchain future needs to have a suite of very specific skills such as cryptography, working knowledge of distributed ledgers, data science and architecture qualifications.
There is also an imbalance between the adoption of blockchain tech and the talent that supports it, with “members working in the blockchain space… (growing) by 76% year on year through June…(but) countries that produce the most blockchain professionals are experiencing a decline in talent growth”.
It’s never been a better time to consider a career in Blockchain Development.
Cybersecurity Experts.
Average Salary (UK): £56,654 per year.
One of the biggest threats, if not the, biggest threat to the safety and security of our digital future is cybercrime. As per Comparitech’s comprehensive study on Cybercrime.
- “Almost 50% of business PCs and 53% of consumer PCs that got infected once were re-infected within the same year”.
- “Over 37,700 ransomware attacks happen every hour globally. That is about 578 ransomware attacks each minute”.
- “One out of five Americans has dealt with a ransomware attack”.
The demand for Cybersecurity experts is “expected to grow by 18% over the next five years”, so for tech talent with a keen eye for risk, software and computer security, this is the job for you!
Data Scientists.
Average Salary (UK): £50,025 per year.
The future will be data led. At the end of 2022, “over 35,000 data scientist jobs (were) advertised on Linkedin” alone, and as AI proliferates the security and necessity of easily accessible data has never been for valuable.
The UK is a case in point for how few Data Scientists are being developed, with “the estimated potential supply of data scientists from UK universities is unlikely to be more than 10,000 per year”.
As such, the opportunities for Data Scientists to make waves in a career almost immediately are profound – “the data science and computer information research field is expected to grow by 22% from 2020–2030 which is triple the rate of the average profession”.
Robotics Engineers.
Average Salary (UK): £38,718 per year.
The designing and building of robotics – and the in-house, on-demand talent needed to maintain them – is becoming increasingly commonplace across multiple industries from warehousing to healthcare and beyond.
The irony of the rise of robotics as an essential workplace feature is the lack of talent required to grow the sector. “The Institution of Engineering and Technology’s annual Skills Survey has highlighted an ongoing shortage of engineering skills for the last 15 years. And now this situation is being exacerbated by the rapid adoption of digital technology”.
Robotics Engineering might be one of the most exciting fields to work in over the next few years, as it combines creativity, engineering, real-life application and computer science in a field brimming with investment and ideas!
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) Developers.
Average Salary (UK): £34,837 per year / £36,446 per year.
Last year the Metaverse was touted as the great workplace saviour. Now, investment is tapering off and people are focused on AI and NLP as the future of IoT. However, the wide range of potential applications for VR and AR is staggering.
From telemedicine to team collaboration, gaming to recruitment, VR/AR has the capability of connecting us in ways we can’t even imagine. This immersion – of people into digital worlds and with each other across borders – is creating a deep well of investment, where a “five-year annual growth rate (CAGR) of 77.0% to 2023…(reaching ) $571 billion CAGR by 2025” predicted in the sector.
Nanotechnology Engineers.
Average Salary (UK): £37,888 per year.
The world’s “tiniest industry” is slated for a huge decade ahead – it’s already present in industries ranging from Space travel to water filtration, and is in the experimental phase across industries like construction (self-repair), synthetic enzymes and rechargeable industrial battery systems, not to mention in potentially world-saving sectors like cloud seeding.
This is a booming industry that’s in its adolescent growth stage and would be perfect for people with an interest and qualifications in chemistry, physics and engineering.
Stem Cell Researchers.
Average Salary (UK): £35,159 per year.
Stem Cells Researchers are, more than likely, going to be a central element of how the world pivots to a more sustainable future, and careerists in the sector will be at the vanguard of that change.
From more ethical food production to disease prevention, not to mention reducing the impacts of ageing on the human body (regenerative medicine), the sector is ripe for development and investment.
The Bottom Line.
Our technically-integrated future will be more than AI, more than the metaverse and more than crypto – and the possibilities to build truly unique and exciting careers in innovative tech sectors should fill any tech worker, young and old, with a hunger to be a part of that change!
A quick, responsive process is what you need to attract and engage the best talent.
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