Hardest Jobs in the IT Sector

The IT industry is a field that has massive job opportunities compared to any other realms. The technology industry requires a huge number of professionals and today most businesses rely on it. From digitizing documents to cybersecurity measures, people have become more dependent on technology. It changes every time and new innovations come up every time, it is therefore difficult for companies to find the right people with the right skills to fill important IT positions. While some may have technical skills, they may lack management skills which put their leadership tasks in question. Finding the balance between the two becomes a challenge.

The hiring shortage in the IT industry is driven by cloud security, cybersecurity, virtual reality, the blockchain, mobile computing, and information security. These are the areas that experience the most shortages in terms of skills.

Top 11 Hardest Jobs to Fill

IT Director

As mentioned earlier, filling a leadership position in IT is a difficult task. Most IT professionals possess technical expertise without leadership skills. The skill set for this job requires a candidate who is able to demonstrate leadership skills that are not found in their IT training. Companies may end up hiring someone with excellent leadership skills but with little technical expertise while others would hire someone with excellent technical skills with a little leadership skill set. The candidate with poor leadership skills may gain experience of running the business on the job and become a success, but finding a candidate with both skills is rare and difficult. This leads to an unqualified person filling the position.

Project Manager

Getting a job as a project manager is a tough thing to do let alone filling the position. Companies have the specification that any candidate for this job should possess the PMP certification. This is where the difficulty arises, the PMP credential is expensive to begin with and it is not clear-cut. For an IT professional to get this PMI certificate, he or she must be managing a project already. This means that you need to be doing the job before you get the certification. This disqualifies most candidates and their knowledge and skills go untapped. Filling this position becomes almost impossible for companies and they may end up denying deserving people this job.

IT Author

Writing technical articles is a job that people first jump into with a lot of enthusiasm and after a few months their great ideas fizzle out. Blogging requires an unshakable level of determination and due to the fact that articles need to be fresh, interesting and informative. The difficulty with this job is finding an individual who is willing to commit and stay with the company for a long period. The other challenge with filling this job is that it is difficult to find IT authors who maintain consistency over the years when it comes to producing high-quality work. Companies therefore find a hard time filling this position.

IT Trainer

The job of an IT trainer is significantly demanding and requires a lot of technical skills coupled with travel requirements. Many companies undertake training responsibilities in the IT industry which arise from the courses and certifications available in the market. IT professionals need these certificates to effectively perform on their responsibilities. It is therefore important that companies hire an IT trainer to undertake the responsibility of ensuring that IT professionals in the company are up to date with new technological advancements and any changes that arise in the IT industry. Due to the demanding nature of this job, not everyone is able to work in this position and it is hard for companies to find candidates that are uniquely qualified for this job.

Developers

It is difficult for companies to find developers who love building things. Most developers are familiar with the technology they are currently using and when companies come across developer candidates for startups; they do not do complex technical interviews to determine their capabilities. Not many developers have the skills required for this job and due to the fact that those who are skilled are scarce, they demand a huge salary for their expertise and not many startups can afford to pay them what they ask for.

Cybersecurity Professionals

With cyber attacks increasing every day, many companies are hiring security professionals to handle their defenses. Organizations need cybersecurity in order to ensure that their files are secure and that sensitive information is not leaked to the public or to their competitors. Ransomware attacks and breaches in company systems hit the news headlines all the time. This job requires great technical skills and professionals who will be able to respond quickly in case of a hack. Finding qualified security professionals is not an easy task. The qualified security professionals with the OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional) and the CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) certifications are needed for companies but they are not easy to find.

Java Developers

Java is the coding language that is in demand currently and most companies are looking to hire java developers. This coding language is mostly used in the back end and front-end web development. With this digitization age, it is not only important but absolutely necessary for companies to have a presence on the internet. This is how they market their products and services, as well as inform people of the specifics of their business. If your business is not on the internet, it is difficult for you to do as well as someone whose business is on the internet. While the demand for Java developers is high in the IT industry, it is not easy to find qualified IT professionals to occupy this position.

Database Architect

Big data is the technology that is currently sought after by companies but the major challenge is that companies have not yet figured out how to manage their small data. When running businesses, companies should depend on a single platform from which they can manage their company data which translates to a single dashboard or database which wrangles their data. If a company wants to warehouse their data, they need technical experts who are skilled and talented and have the necessary certifications. Being able to deploy supply-chain and customer-facing applications that are embedded with the company’s backend systems is a distinctive advantage for a business. Data architects need to design manage and deploy data and they are a resource that most companies are looking for.

Pre-sales Engineer

Just like the managerial position, this is an IT job that requires more than technical skills. This is a job that also requires travel and you because when you are marketing a product that you want to introduce on the market, you need a hands-on approach in terms of demonstrations so that people understand how it is used. Even when the company wishes to close a deal with a potential client, it is important to carry out a proper demonstration. So, if the candidate has exceptional technical skills but lacks presentation skills, it will be challenging for him or her to effectively carry out this job. This job heavily leans towards customer service and typical IT professionals do not like dealing in this area. It is therefore difficult for companies to find the right person.

Legacy/ Maintenance Programmer

These jobs involve maintenance of existing applications and those that have been in existence for a long time which is written in a legacy technology. The number of programmers who are willing to take up these positions is so little. The IT industry is a world where the technology that is considered to be the best invention quickly becomes obsolete in a couple of years due to the constant innovation of new products. It is therefore a job that is considered for people who are at the tail end of their IT careers and their work will never be done because they will keep dealing with obsolete technology until the day they die. Companies have devised a method to get candidates for this job by luring junior level or entry-level professionals for this position with the promise that their knowledge and experience does not matter. Going through the old coded documents is utterly miserable and not many IT professionals will jump at the chance to fill this position and it is a pain for companies.

Specialized Programmer

Finding developers who have the technical skills necessary for writing operating systems, mobile applications, and device drivers is so rare. This is a position that requires exceptional skills which are a money maker. The diagnosis of this situation is that either qualified IT professionals are rare or there is a high demand for a small number of developers. Another theory could be that these jobs require specialized skills which only a few people possess them. Mobile applications, on the other hand, attract so many developers. The demand for specialized programmers is so high that when companies want to hire them, they have existing positions unfilled to create space for them.

Conclusion

The business of hiring IT professionals is not an easy task. As much as most people are venturing into this field, there are certain qualifications that companies look for in vain which creates a hiring crisis. However, the current IT certifications have somewhat made it easy by creating different qualification criteria for companies to consider.