Five trends developers and IT workers should watch this year

From the rise of mobile gaming to the impact of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, we look at the trends IT workers should watch this year.

Demand for tech talent continues to be very strong with employers competing to attract suitably qualified candidates for key roles. Set out below are five trends contributing to the current demand.

1. Gaming and eSports: Ireland’s gaming industry is expanding driven by the rise of mobile gaming and the growing popularity of eSports. This is creating demand for developers and engineers and individuals with relevant design, animation, editing, production and special effects skills. Games testers, quality controllers and project managers will also find good opportunities in this sector.
2. Open Banking / Fintech: Technology, innovation and a new Payment Services Directive (PSD2) are creating opportunities for fintech businesses in areas such as payments, trading and FX, risk, compliance, currency exchanges and peer to peer lending. Application Programming Interfaces (API) are creating opportunities for third parties to securely access banks customer data and develop  innovative services. AIB, KBC and Permanent TSB have all launched API developer portals in recent months. We anticipate ongoing demand for tech workers across all types of fintech—from start-ups and early stage businesses to multinational players. Cloud and Java skills and experience of big data technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning are particularly advantageous for candidates seeking opportunities in this sector.
3. Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS): Gartner Inc predicts that the worldwide public cloud services market will grow 17.3 percent in 2019 to total $206.2 billion, up from $175.8 billion in 2018. The fastest-growing segment of the market is cloud system infrastructure services (infrastructure as a service or IaaS), which is forecast to grow 27.6 percent in 2019. As businesses embark on cloud projects, we anticipate growing demand for tech workers with cloud security and cross-platform experience.
4. Rise of the robot: The Government’s recently published Future Jobs Ireland 2019 report aims to help Ireland benefit from technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Data Analytics, the Internet of Things and Blockchain. Government also wants to facilitate and help companies co-innovate and develop solutions in application areas such as MarineTech, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, Advanced Manufacturing, AgriFoodTech, and Smart Cities. As robots take over routine, repetitive tasks, new opportunities are emerging for individuals who can carry out higher value work. In light of these trends, we expect demand for candidates with data analytics, business intelligence, data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning skills to continue to grow.
5. Security analytics: Organisations are spending more on security. Consequently, we anticipate good permanent and contract opportunities for IT workers with relevant security CyberEdge Group’s 2019 Cyberthreat Defense Report found that ‘too much data to analyze’ is the greatest inhibitor to IT security’s success while ‘security analytics’ is the most-wanted security technology for 2019. The report found that 84 percent of IT security budgets are rising.

Sourcing talent

With tech talent in short supply, we find that companies are increasingly willing to look beyond the European Economic Area for candidates. Likewise, on the candidate side of our business, we are receiving enquires from non-EEA tech workers interested in moving to Ireland, drawn in part by Ireland’s reputation as a global hub for the world’s leading tech, pharma and aviation leasing companies as well as an international finance centre.

A recent Devskilller survey of global hiring trends shows the top five countries that Ireland recruits developers from are India, the UK, the US, Romania and South Africa. A trend we are seeing at Eolas Recruitment is that since the UK’s referendum on leaving the EU, there has also been a noticeable increase in enquiries from UK-based IT workers considering relocating to Ireland.

Previously on this blog, we discussed what IT professionals need to know about employment permits when moving to Ireland and more recently we provided an update on the March 2019 changes to the Critical Skills Employment Permit rules.

In terms of where the opportunities are in the current market, developers are particularly in demand with Javascript, React, VUE, Angular or Node.js skills an advantage. Companies are also looking for SQL, JACA, HTML/CSS, and .NET/C# skills. Project managers, agile coaches, product owners, scrum masters, UI developers and UX/UI designers and data analytics professionals are also in demand. As well as full time roles, there are excellent contracting roles for IT workers who like to be their own boss. However, to succeed in contracting, it is vital to keep your skills up to date and relevant.

Want to find out more?

If you are interested in hearing about upcoming permanent and/or contract opportunities, Eolas Recruitment would like to hear from you. Our expert consultants specialise in the IT sector and will often be able to let  you know about opportunities that are not advertised online. Check out what candidates day about Eolas Recruitment or contact us for more information.