What is the most in-demand role in tech?
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What is the most in-demand role in tech?

24 Aug 2017

Interested in working in tech, but not sure what you want to do? A recent survey from Paysa may help you make your choice of tech jobs.

The world of tech offers many attractive employment opportunities. Near constant growth and innovation ensure that careers in tech are built for longevity, and tech jobs – with high salaries and numerous perks – are always on offer.

As a result, many workers set their sights on a career in tech, often targeting some specific household names, such as Facebook, Google or Apple. This, naturally enough, means following a carefully planned path. But what path should that be? What skills should prospective tech employees be developing, and what languages should they be learning? What level of experience should they be amassing? What end-goal role should they have in mind?

These are the questions that personalised career platform Paysa sought to answer when it undertook its recent extensive study of the sector.

Analysing more than 8,200 job postings, and more than 70,000 resumes, the company aimed to figure out who’s hiring, and what skills are most in demand at some of the leading tech companies.

Dividing their results between titans (public companies that had an initial public offering [IPO] more than 10 years ago, and that are valued at more than $100bn) and tech disrupters (privately held companies – or public companies that had an IPO within the last 10 years – valued at more than $10bn), Paysa uncovered some interesting insights into where and how tech workers are most in demand.

Who’s hiring?

Number of tech jobs by employer

Infographic: Paysa

Looking at the number of roles being filled by titans and disrupters in 2016 and early 2017, Paysa discovered that Amazon has far outstripped its nearest competitors. Although Amazon is reputed to have a high rate of employee turnover, this is still a significant gap. And if the first quarter of 2017 is anything to go by, that gap is only going to grow.

Who’s being hired?

Most in-demand tech jobs

Infographic: Paysa

Good news if you’re a software engineer, as nine of the 10 companies studied want you! This is the role that titans and disrupters most want to fill, almost across the board. Microsoft is the notable exception, seeking product experts and advisers instead – though software engineer has only been relegated here as far as second place.

You have to make sure you hit the sweet spot in terms of experience, however. How long will you need to work before you can segue into the job and company of your dreams?

Experience levels for tech jobs

Infographic: Paysa

Of course, that can vary from company to company. Each hires across all levels, but the average experience level of hires can differ. For those just starting out, Snap, Apple, Microsoft and Oracle are your best bets. If you have a little more experience under your belt, Airbnb, Twitter, Uber or Google could be looking for you.

While building that experience, however, what skills should you be building alongside it? What languages and abilities are companies looking for?

Skills for tech jobs with disrupters

Infographic: Paysa

That depends on whether you’re looking at disrupters or titans. While both place huge importance on computer science and – perhaps surprisingly – management, there is more variation in other areas.

Skills for tech jobs with titans

Infographic: Paysa

Both titans and disrupters seek people familiar with Java, Python and C programming languages.

Who’s accepting?

The above infographics give a great overview of where you can fit in, professionally. But before you say, ‘I’ve found the company for me’, there are other important factors to consider. First: will you fit in personally?

Diversity and inclusion are important issues in the business world, and it’s always worth asking whether the company you’re hoping to join represents different ethnicities, genders and sexualities. One way to assess this is to look at who is applying to these roles.

Diversity of applicants for tech jobs

Infographic: Paysa

Although Paysa acknowledges that this data is incomplete – many employees opt not to disclose these details in official applications – it is interesting to note that men still appear to be more likely to apply for tech jobs than women are, and the number of so-called ‘minority’ applicants are vastly outnumbered by more stereotypically expected applicants.

Who’s keeping people?

Finally, it’s worth considering a company’s turnover rate – it can tell you a lot. Are people leaving because they’re unhappy at the company, or because they’ve got some great experience and are ready to put it to use somewhere else? That may be information you can only find elsewhere, but rates of tenure can still be an important indicator of how likely you will be to find a permanent job in the company of your choice.

Tenure in tech jobs by company

Infographic: Paysa

Kirsty Tobin
By Kirsty Tobin

Kirsty Tobin served as careers editor of Silicon Republic from 2015 up to August 2017. When she was younger, she had a dream where she started and won a fight with a T-Rex, so she’s pretty sure she kicked butt at this, too. Passions include eating all the cake, watching more TV than is healthy and sassy comebacks.

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