Hottest tech jobs: chip fire
Image: Anake Seenadee

The 10 hottest tech jobs of 2017

6 Dec 2016

As we near the end of 2016, we start to look towards next year and the job opportunities it could bring. Here, Hays Recruitment’s James Milligan highlights the top tech jobs of 2017.

The hottest tech jobs in any given year are simply those for which demand outstrips supply, normally as a result of organisations’ strategic drivers and legislative changes.

This coming year, digital transformation is top of many traditional organisations’ agendas in the public and private sector, as they look to improve user experience on both web and mobile platforms.

Leadership is recognising the opportunity of utilising the vast amounts of data their organisations are generating. They are doing this in two key ways: providing better insights to why an organisation is performing as it is, and moving into the world of data science, with the application of machine learning and predictive analytics.

Finally, as a result of high-profile data breaches over the last 12 months, and with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) due to be implemented in less than 18 months, organisations are investing in robust cybersecurity in order to remain compliant and to mitigate the risk of a data breach.

Unsurprisingly, the above themes feed into many of the skills that will be in demand in the hottest tech jobs of 2017.

10. Data scientist

As organisations get to grips with the governance and quality of their data, they continue to invest in their data science capabilities.

When hiring, three criteria are key, and not normally found in the same person: business facing skills, advanced statistics and mathematics, and IT programming skills in languages such as ‘R’. When hiring heads of data science, organisations should (and will) try to build a team that blends all three.

9. UX designer

UX designers combine their research and design skills to understand user needs and to produce solutions that people want to use. This requires a focus on human behaviours and psychology, and an understanding of why people do what they do.

UX designers can tell you what a product should do and why it should do it.

8. Cloud services engineer

2016 has been a tipping point, as cloud goes from concept to full implementation. This has seen demand increase for candidates with Azure and AWS experience.

7. Project manager

Digital transformation leads the agenda at many large organisations, as we see projects kick off in the public and private sectors.

Demand is particularly high in financial services and central government.

6. Full-stack developer

2017 will be the year of MEAN (Mongo DB, Express.js, angular.js and Node.js).

As demand increases, it will replace LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) as the preferred stack.

5. Mobile developer

Android and iOS mobile application developers continue to be in demand, as smartphone proliferation continues to explode.

4. Data analyst

Data analysts collect and structure raw data, creating smaller, more manageable data sets relating to past events.

Employers look for experience in OLTP, SQL and NoSQL.

3. Security engineer

Security engineers perform security monitoring, data/log analysis and forensic analysis, detecting security incidents and assisting in response.

In parallel, they utilise new technologies and processes to enhance capability, ultimately helping to mitigate risk.

2. UI developer

Working in tandem with UX designers, UI developers build clean and easy-to-navigate interfaces.

Demand continues to be strong for developers with skills in HTML5, Javascript and CSS.

1. Security architect

In 2017, a key objective at C-level will be to ensure integrity of systems.

Working with key stakeholders across all functions, the architect develops policies for the secure management of systems across an organisation. They are responsible for intrusion detection, network authentication and the development of encryption policies.

By James Milligan

James Milligan is the director for Hays IT, with responsibility for leading the UK and Ireland IT business to ensure supply of the best talent in a rapidly evolving IT market.

Looking for jobs in tech or science? Check out our Employer Profiles for information on companies hiring right now and sign up for our Career Republic e-zine for a weekly digest of sci-tech careers news and advice.

Loading now, one moment please! Loading