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Slashdot Asks: Which IT Hiring Trends Are Hot, and Which Ones Are Going Cold?

Posted by BeauHD on from the icy-hot dept.

snydeq writes: Recruiting and retaining tech talent remains IT's biggest challenge today, writes Paul Heltzel, in an article on what trends are heating up and what's cooling off when it comes to IT staffing. "One thing hasn't changed this year: Recruiting top talent is still difficult for most firms, and demand greatly outstrips supply," writes Heltzel. "That's influencing many of the areas we looked at, including compensation and retention. Whether you're looking to expand your team or job searching yourself, read on to see which IT hiring practices are trending and which ones are falling out of favor." What are you seeing companies favoring in the hiring market these days?

6 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Demand outstripping supply? by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Unless we're talking H1-Bs I don't see that in the slightest. What I do see is several of my buddies in dead end jobs (and a few acquaintances rocking recent CS degrees stuck in crap IT jobs) while workers here on cheap visas and outsourcing dominate the industry. I suppose if they can keep this up though nobody local will go into IT (since you can't get work). I can tell you this, I just sent my kid to college to be a nurse. IT ranked below liberal arts degree on the list of things I wanted her to major in.

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    1. Re:Demand outstripping supply? by JohnFen · · Score: 4, Informative

      This depends a lot on where you are looking. There are tons of companies that have a great deal of trouble filling developer positions, but they aren't in the usual cities or (often) with companies that are well-known in the computer industry.

      They also tend to have the most interesting and challenging work. For example, do you want to work with room-sized robots tackling computer vision and AI problems? There are lumber mill equipment manufacturers who badly need you.

    2. Re:Demand outstripping supply? by russbutton · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The dev with 10 years experience just turned 30 and is ripe to be fired and replaced by the new grad. The old dev will never work again, not anywhere, not ever. Experience is a curse, and if you don't believe it, you're next to be fired. Bye-bye!

      Really? I've been doing UNIX/Linux systems admin, now called DevOps work, since 1989. The job keeps changing and evolving, but it's a lot of the same kinds of skills being called for. Of course in that 28 years I've been let go one way or another 7 times and 10 of the companies I've worked for no longer exist. One company laid me off on a Tuesday, the bank seized the company on Friday and my last check bounced. I eventually got paid, but you just had to laugh.

      I'm now 66 years old and still get calls from recruiters almost daily. I have yet to see anyone turn me down just because of my age.

      The truth is that you have to keep your skill set current. The old standbys of UNIX/Linux savvy, regular expressions, problem solving, and most of all. a willingness to jump in on stuff you know nothing about and figure it out on the fly. That's your bread and butter on a day-to-day basis. Be able work in puppet/chef and have some hands-on with AWS is what everyone wants today. Tomorrow it'll be something else. Ya gotta keep an eye out for what's coming next and get a taste of it.

  2. Hiring Chief Security Officers with music degrees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Definitely in a downtrend.

  3. One thing hasn't changed this year: by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most firms are still offering too little money for the positions they want filled. Translated, this means most companies do not value IT staff.

    The companies with management that believe "demand greatly outstrips supply" are earning the security breaches in their futures.

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  4. Run Logan, Run! by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    TFA: "In terms of job opportunities, it's probably no surprise that Millennials have the edge. Those between 25-30 years old get the most job offers, reports Hired's 2017 State of Global Tech Salaries. After the age of 45, the average salary and number of job offers decline. After 50, most IT pros see a significant decline in salary in line with their experience."

    Just like the NBA: churn and burn. It may be better to become a domain expert with IT knowledge rather than a "direct" IT expert. For example, accounting and chemistry don't change nearly as quick as direct IT. Thus, domain experience is more likely to be valued after age 45. I don't see bunches of accounting and chemistry fads equivalent to IT fads. There's no "Quarks are Obsolete! Learn NoQuarksNeeded 2.0 in 21 Days Head First Unleashed" books in the chemistry section. (Hmmm, maybe there's room for con artists in those industries.)

    IT is closer to the clothing fashion industry than real topics. That's why they want younglings. I've seen several dozens of way to do plain old CRUD screens over the years. Do we really need 38 ways to do the same thing and throw out #1 thru #37 to get 38? Plus, they often grow more complicated over time, not less. De-evolution. "It's agile functional separation of scale-able and cloud-able concerns that provides nimble global synergy..." Yeah right, shuddup[1]. The cloud, for example, is often used as an excuse to do really stupid unproven shit in order to out-buzzword your conpetition[2]. Con artists rule over IT.

    [1] and git off my lawn
    [2] misspelling intentional

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