IT Career Juice Blog

Executives with expertise in fast-growing technologies are in high-demand, but it takes more than technical skills to lead a team and bring products to market. In this post, 30+ year executive recruiter, Dean Madison, explains the traits and abilities that companies look for when hiring an IT executive.

The tech economy is booming, unemployment is low, and technology experts with leadership skills are in strong demand. As new technologies like 5G, Internet of Things, and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) enter the market, technology companies are eager to find executives who can lead teams effectively as they shape the markets, products, and services of the future.

But raw technical ability isn’t enough. Leading a company or team to success in an industry dependent on technology requires technical expertise, but it also requires soft skills and strategic ability.

It is the role of recruiters and executive search professionals to surface candidates who tick all of these boxes. As an executive recruiter specializing in the cable and broadband industry for over thirty years, I have taken the lead on executive searches for businesses from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

In this article, I’m going to discuss some of the qualities I look for above and beyond technical expertise when advising clients on high-level executive hires.

As the frequency and severity of cyber attacks continues to rise, organizations are coming face to face with the looming danger of a data breach. However, boosting security budgets is not nearly enough to protect against today's increasingly sophisticated attacks. To truly combat the myriad threats in cyberspace, organizations must hire, train and retain cyber security professionals with the skills needed to stay ahead of the hackers.

Here are five skill sets that information security hiring managers are looking for in 2018, and beyond:

ITCareerFinder analyzes salaries and hiring trends to uncover this year's best-paying cyber security roles.

Data breaches are becoming so ubiquitous that it’s easy to gloss over the headlines, but the fallout is much harder for companies to ignore -- hacks are not just embarrassing but can lead to serious financial and reputational damage. So, it’s not surprising that there’s high demand for IT security specialists, and that those who are up to the task are generously compensated. In fact, cyber security is the 3rd most highly sought-after skill set in 2023, and many companies report info-sec vacancies due to their inability to find qualified candidates.

Not only are these skills in peak demand, but cyber security is one of the highest-paying IT specialties, bringing in an average salary of $102,600 (more than double the $45,760 average for all occupations) according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. But not all cyber-sec jobs pay the same. A handful of positions stand above the rest, at least in terms of compensation.

Here are some of the highest paying cyber security careers for 2023:

IT pros want new jobs!

One-third of IT professionals will be chasing new jobs in 2018, per Spiceworks' 2018 IT Career Outlook, with higher salaries and skills advancement being their chief motivations. With the IT talent gap widening and demand for qualified candidates going strong, the job market looks promising for IT pros with the right combination of skills.

ITCareerFinder presents 2018's top ten IT jobs, along with the skills and certifications you need to secure a lucrative post in each role. (CIO.com's "The 7 most in-demand tech jobs for 2018 — and how to hire for them" is the source for most of these picks, with exceptions noted.)

These are the top 10 technical positions that hiring managers will be looking to fill in 2018:

The demand for dedicated cyber security talent is higher than ever before, and it's unlikely to decelerate any time soon. Many companies are feeling the pressure from an ever-growing threat landscape, and are compelled to seek out professionals who can help protect the organization from harm. According to a study conducted by the Center for Cyber Safety and Education and (ISC)², the workforce shortage in the cyber security industry is projected to hit 1.8 million by 2022. There's no better time for professionals in the cyber security field to hone and expand their skill set, becoming a valuable asset in the process.

When it comes to developing these skills, it helps to view them in the context of cyber security specialties. While job roles and day-to-day responsibilities often overlap, and professionals must adapt to new knowledge all the time, these specialties can still help an aspiring cyber security professional focus on a group of skills that are most appropriate for them.

The following are in-demand cyber security specialties and the skills you need to excel in each one:

A breakdown of the myriad skills, platforms, and credentials that will help you succeed in the red-hot field of DevOps engineering.

What is DevOps, and why is it smoking hot right now?

DevOps is a combination of the words Development and Operations. An approach to software development with roots in Agile, DevOps breaks down the walls that separate the software development side of IT from the operations side. DevOps has many goals including improved communications between software development and IT operations staff, and the better, faster creation of applications that are immediately fit for production use.

DevOps is hot due to its proven competitive business advantages. “High-performing organizations [in this context, organizations that use DevOps] decisively outperform their lower-performing peers. They deploy [software] 200 times more frequently, with 2,555 times faster lead times, recover 24 times faster, and have three times lower change failure rates.” – The Puppet 2016 State of DevOps Report.

To prepare for a career in DevOps, learn what skills are in greatest demand, the tools and technologies you should master, and the certifications that can show employers you measure up.

The jobs you want; the skills you need.

“CompTIA projects global IT industry growth of 4.1 percent in 2017. If this growth materializes, it will push the $3.4 trillion global IT industry past the $3.5 trillion mark by year’s end,” according to the CompTIA IT Industry Outlook 2017. A one-hundred-billion-dollar increase in one year in an already massive market, where sufficient candidates are already lacking, has to spell job openings, and it does.

ITCareerFinder targets the ten hottest IT jobs this year, based on market data, outlining the skills you need to step into these positions. (The Computerworld Forecast 2017 is the source for job demand statistics where not otherwise stated.)

Here are the top 10 IT skills and job roles that hiring managers need in 2017:

The propagation of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, mobile and cloud computing is putting software into every business, organization and industry. And naturally, with code running in everything and everywhere, the demand for software development skills is increasing at an accelerated pace.

There are literally hundreds of programming and scripting languages, each with a unique learning curve, domain of utility, and salary expectations. If you do a quick search of the most popular programming languages, you’ll find different and contradicting results.

So here are 10 hot programming languages, in no specific order, that are very likely to land you a lucrative programming job in 2017 and beyond.