Demand for skilled tech workers changed during 2020 as companies adapted to the rapid shift to home working in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and rethought their business models. And the impact on tech recruitment isn't over yet.
At first there was increased demand for candidates that could enable remote working – people with skills related to cloud-based systems like AWS and Azure. Within the first four to eight weeks of the first lockdown, demand for these candidates rose by 400%, said recruitment company Hays.
This was followed by an increased need for cybersecurity experts with the technical skills to ensure that all these new remote-working apps were properly locked down, and also the ability to help remote workers modify their behaviour. Next, Hays said, came an uptick in demand for data analysts and data scientists – particularly from governments and health services for people who could crunch the numbers around COVID-19, but also from businesses trying to understand how their risk profile might have changed.
SEE: Hiring Kit: Python developer[1] (TechRepublic Premium)
In May and June there was a drop-off in demand, which the recruitment company said was due to companies starting to think longer term about their digital strategy, and working on tools to build a direct relationship with the customer.
"Most organisations now work in an agile or a semi-agile way, so they are looking for skills that can enable the change, but also software developers that can build and develop the applications that they require," Hays said.
"We have observed some specific areas of demand in response to the circumstances of this year," said James Milligan, global head of technology at Hays. "Developers top our list of job roles followed by DevOps engineers, security engineers, cloud architects and data scientists.
"Reflecting the