Severe tech skills shortage in programmers, blockchain experts, and business analysts

A new report from Janco Associates on global tech industry career trends shows a severe skills shortage in programming, blockchain expert, business analyst, and enterprise resource management roles.

The tech industry worldwide has exploded in the past two years, with competition for top candidates driving a global bidding war among large tech firms. A new report by management consulting firm Janco Associates reports that the number of new IT jobs created rose sharply in 2018 following several years of decline, jumping from around 60,000 new jobs in 2017 to over 100,000 in 2018.

With over 20,000 new tech roles already having been created in the first few months of 2019, projections indicate that 2019 may be another bumper year for careers in the tech field with around 90,000 total new job roles created. This will exacerbate the continuing skills shortage that was experienced last year, as it was found that many key positions remained unfilled.

Among the top most requested roles that remained unfilled last year are blockchain engineers and enterprise resource managers, both of which were in extremely high demand as firms tried to get new emerging tech projects off the ground. Programmers, technical managers, and business analysts were similarly in high demand last year, with a significant skills gap in industry.

The skills gap has become so extreme in some roles that a virtual bidding war is taking place, with tech firms routinely poaching experienced staff from competitors. TechCentral reports that salaries for blockchain developers last year ranged from $119,000 US (£91,000) to $176,000 US (£134,500), and many firms hiring for those roles are highly concerned with retaining their new hires long-term.

Source: Tech Central, Janco Associates