IT job seekers have real reason to hope. No fewer than 10,000 IT jobs were added to payrolls in May alone, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics, reflecting a steady month-over-month increase since January. And in a June survey by the IT jobs site Dice.com, 65 percent of hiring managers and recruiters said they will hire more tech professionals in the second half of 2011 than in the previous six months.
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Hill points to the overflowing demand for mobile app developers on Dice.com, noting that postings for Android developers have now surpassed those for iPhone developers. Nonetheless, listings for BlackBerry developers still abound, reflecting RIM’s tenacious ability to hang on to enterprise customers.
Hot IT job No. 6: Cloud architect
Ask IT managers whether they’re “in the cloud,” and they’ll tell you they always have been. To them, “cloud” is just a trendy way of saying “data center.” But with business executives and investors now tuned into the cloud concept, demand is growing for IT pros who can lead the charge to deliver on the increased efficiency and agility promised by the private cloud.
“There’s so much positive momentum toward cloud integration,” says Ron Gula, CEO of Tenable Network Security. “People who can really identify the architecture from a simplicity point of view are going to be in demand.”
In our searches of tech job listings, we turned up dozens of calls for cloud architects, with the majority originating from enterprise IT organizations. Most of these listings call for familiar skills and certs associated with networking, virtualization, and SAN design. Without question, the more advanced your understanding of virtualization networking and management, the better your chances. The ability to explain how your private cloud will increase visibility into IT costs is a big plus.
In addition to establishing and managing a private cloud infrastructure, Gula says cloud architects will increasingly need to be experts in choosing public cloud services. “When you get into the nuances of SLAs, you become less of an IT person and more of a lawyer,” says Gula. The ultimate goal is the hybrid cloud, where cloud architects and business management decide which cloud services make the most sense to run internally and which should be farmed out on a pay-per-use basis.
Gula says any business depending on outside companies for significant chunks of cloud infrastructure needs a cloud expert capable of taking on the odious challenge of deciphering the terms of a license agreement to assess the veracity of any service provider’s guarantee. These skills will prove critical in risk management, which, according to both Hill of Dice.com and Ripaldi of Modis, is another rapidly growing IT field.
More changes to IT jobs on the horizon
Naturally, these six emerging roles represent just a sampling of what IT pros can expect to see in the coming months. One big trend to watch for is the increasing specificity of IT job functions.
“What we’re seeing with these emerging job positions is a splintering of monolithic tech functions into more granular definitions. Enterprise skills used to be all-encompassing, just like an MD was once enough in the medical world. Today tech roles are being sliced more finely,” says Dice.com’s Hill. “We see it happening already in even relatively new areas like mobile. For tech professionals, it’s clear that in order to be recognized for your skills, a solid base is a good start, but specificity is key.”
So if you have a broad background and are looking to make a change, a resume tailored to the job you want to pursue — plus a little supplemental training and experience if you can swing it — can pay off. Another piece of advice: Get cracking now. Surges in IT hiring like this one don’t happen that often.