These are the IT Skills in Demand in 2023

With computer and information technology (IT) jobs projected to grow by double-digit percentages from 2021 to 2031, there’s little debating IT professionals and their accompanying knowledge and proficiency are in demand. The only real question is which IT skills are most needed. In 2023, a consensus is emerging that a half-dozen or so technology roles are particularly urgent. Here’s a look at the IT skills most in demand in 2023.

Programming

Programmers are at the top of the list of technical professionals organizations seek in 2023. The skillset is required to create and maintain applications, code data collection and analysis routines, develop web-based platforms, support cloud services and address numerous other software-related needs.

Scan corresponding recruitment ads and you’re likely to confirm several traits are typically important, including the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously (as proves true with most every skillset listed here), work well in collaborative environments (another refrain you could repeat throughout most every listing), prove familiar with Agile- or Scrum-based project management frameworks and follow best practices. Just as important are the languages with which a programmer proves adept.

C++, JavaScript and Python, as well as C, C#, Ruby and PowerShell, are among the languages employers frequently depend upon. HTML and CSS are two more technologies with which most developers should prove familiar, as both are widely used and prove fundamental to developing front-end web services and other solutions.

UI & UX Design

While given little thought by many, the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design of computers, products and software applications are highly nuanced elements that significantly impact functionality and success. Sometimes used interchangeably, UI refers to the actual interfaces with which people interact, while UX refers to the sensation or emotion a customer feels when using a product or application.

The skills required to prove proficient designing and improving user interfaces, while sometimes different, often complement those needed to intuitively understand and craft effective user experiences (UX). These skills, however, are different from those typically required of coders and programmers and usually demand greater expertise necessary for understanding and designing actual software and hardware interfaces and crafting overall product experiences.

UI skills in demand include the ability to effectively determine needs and expectations, plan wireframes and layouts, maximize usability and optimize websites and applications for various specific platforms. Knowledge and experience UX requires, meanwhile, includes expertise researching market and industry needs and requirements, studying user and customer preferences, researching and confirming application programming interfaces (APIs) and integrations with third-party solutions, confirming project scopes and requirements, creating proposed workflows and prototypes and designing and delivering effective user experiences.

Cybersecurity

A segment of the IT industry sure to continue growing is the security sector. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a division of the US Department of Homeland Security, warns that international hostilities and subsequent economic sanctions and steps being taken by the US and ally countries heightens the risk of malicious cyberattacks. State-sponsored hackers are more emboldened than ever before. The agency states every organization, regardless of size, should be prepared. In fact, the agency encourages all organizations to “adopt a heightened posture.”

Technology professionals are needed who are capable of identifying, assessing and resolving cybersecurity vulnerabilities and attacks, as a result. Corresponding in-demand skills include the ability to evaluate vulnerabilities, install and support antimalware and cybersecurity solutions, mitigate security risks, communicate and document technically complex security concepts, train end users, monitor and test networks and systems, troubleshoot and resolve incidents and complete corresponding compliance requirements and reporting responsibilities.

According to Fortune, organizations are “desperate” to fill cybersecurity positions, as global demand increased from one million such open positions in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2021. In the US alone, the number of cybersecurity job openings is predicted to grow aggressively by 2025, prompting the White House to promote a federal program to train workers and help fill hundreds of thousands of corresponding openings.

Business Intelligence & Data Analysis

Organizations are increasingly collecting data. In fact, businesses are collecting so much information that a new if unsophisticated term surfaced to refer to the result: big data. The challenge quickly becomes making meaningful sense of the corresponding datapoints, statistics and trends.

Hence the demand for another set of widely needed skills. For the next few years forecasts anticipate strong demand for professionals possessing the knowledge and expertise necessary to review vast amounts of data, identify trends and assist others in understanding the meaning of that information. Among the specific talents businesses need are the ability to assist others in visualizing data patterns, interpreting metrics, accurately analyzing trends and understanding the true relationships between causes and effects.

The need to bring meaning to otherwise seemingly complex and unintuitive data analyses is promoting some outlets—such as Forbes—to refer to these roles as Data Communicators or Data Storytellers. So pervasive us the trend that the magazine cites a 2022 Forrester study that predicts 70 percent of jobs will involve working directly with data in just three years.

Thus, two different talents must increasingly work together. Not only must a professional prove adept working directly with large datasets and corresponding technologies to assist sorting and visualizing information—using such tools as Microsoft BI or Tableau, to mention just two such solutions—but workers must also wield the ability to effectively communicate and convey meaningful stories resulting from the data collection and analysis.

Emerging Technologies

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies are impacting the technical skills businesses need in 2023 and beyond. ChatGPT and AI topics dominated news headlines at the beginning of the year, and that trend is likely to continue. Microsoft claimed to “reinvent search” with the introduction of its new ChatGPT AI-powered Microsoft Bing search engine and Edge web browser technologies in early February, while Google touted similar advances with its AI-powered Bard conversational chatbot service designed to improve search interaction and results.

These new AI technologies, while impressive, are demonstrably still maturing and don’t always work as designed, though. The fact was made clear when Microsoft’s Bing search engine proved the subject of an unsettling New York Times article and Google’s Bard infamously provided incorrect results at its launch, tanking the search giant’s stock capitalization.

Companies need professionals familiar with AI and ML technologies to identify and implement effective methods for incorporating these emerging and innovative advancements to streamline and automate processes, improve forecasting and estimating activities, enhance customer service functions and lower costs. Unlike some skillsets, AI- and ML-related expertise can apply to functions across a range of disciplines, from IT pros responsible for securing applications and networks to customer service staff responsible for improving response times and satisfaction ratings. The ability to augment, supplement and improve a variety of functions using these emerging technologies is only going to grow in importance and includes the need for such specific skills as leveraging AI and ML technologies to make better sense of large amounts of data, improve algorithms and more quickly detect fraud, for example.

Network & Systems Administration

While emerging technologies, cybersecurity needs and similar topics are winning headlines, the fact remains that foundational IT skills aren’t going away anytime soon. Expertise planning, coordinating, installing, administering and maintaining servers, systems, cloud solutions, data center configurations and networks continues to prove necessary, even as organizations shift to automating processes, improving workflows using insights gleaned from business intelligence (BI), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms and employing AI and ML technologies.

Specifically, the need continues for technical professionals who can plan, support and maintain cloud services migrations, manage data center equipment, design and support onsite networks, troubleshoot systems failures, maintain systems compliance with industry requirements and government regulations and monitor networks for issues. Network and systems administrators are also tasked with assisting with IT security initiatives, protecting data whether at rest or in transit and installing and maintaining networks, devices, workstations, servers and software.

Other systems administration skills in demand include establishing and maintaining service level agreements (SLAs), documenting operations and processes, servicing support staff and coordinating and managing hardware lifecycles. Still more related areas of knowledge and experience needed in 2023 and beyond include the ability to support manufacturing equipment, backup systems and proprietary programs and designing and maintaining telephony and WAN environments.

Digital Marketing

Not all in-demand technology expertise involves hardcore traditional programming or systems administration-like technical skills, however. Some competencies comparatively new to the scene include digital marketing skills. As the Internet, smartphones and social media have changed the way people communicate, advertising occurs, consumers are influenced and customers make decisions, companies require the knowledge and skills necessary to plan, launch, track, adjust, monitor and measure digital marketing campaigns across a variety of sources and outlets.

Marketing prowess, excellent verbal and written skills, proficiency administering various digital marketing solutions—ranging from such tools as Constant Contact and MailChimp to Buffer, Canva and Hootsuite—are needed. So, too, is the ability to employ and optimize numerous common trade elements, with pay per click (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), contact marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing and analytics, affiliate marketing and influencer relationships among them.

Hosts of other digital marketing-related skills and expertise are likely to continue proving valuable to companies, too. Numerous job boards confirm active recruitment continuing for professionals with experience creating and supporting marketing calendars, coordinating content development, determining and tracking KPIs and other success metrics and generating and analyzing individual campaign performance reports.

Database Administration & Engineering

The rise of big data, business intelligence and data trends doesn’t occur without database administration and engineering. Databases are a critical fundamental component of numerous technical strategies across a variety of disciplines. Robust demand for corresponding skillsets will continue throughout 2023 and likely beyond.

Whether dependent upon Oracle, mySQL, SQL or PostgreSQL technologies, databases power a multitude of platforms and solutions. With businesses of all sizes becoming increasingly dependent upon ever-growing amounts of data, a variety of corresponding skills and expertise are required.

Specifically, the knowledge and ability to design and build the systems that collect, store and parse the data are a necessary underlying foundational element. But numerous other database skills are needed, as well, such as proficiency providing database deployment, debugging and maintenance services. Other related skills in demand include performing in-depth data analysis and evaluation, designing and supporting scalability requirements and providing performance and security improvements.

Have Questions?

Certainly, other technical skills and fields of experience will continue proving popular this year and in the future. But this list captures several of the skillsets most in demand.

If you’re having trouble staffing various corresponding functions, or if you’re unsure just how different skills or fields of expertise should combine to address business objectives or resolve an operational issue, contact Louisville Geek. You can reach our technical experts wielding proficiency and experience across a variety of disciplines by calling 502-897-7577 or emailing [email protected].