8 Rewarding and Highly Sought-After Tech Careers

Explore these 8 rewarding and highly sought-after tech careers. This rewarding 8 tech careers will help if you are changing your career, looking to go into tech or if you’re thinking of the best tech career path to take.

By Catherine Adenle

These are 8 rewarding and highly sought-after tech careers. This rewarding tech careers will help you if you are considering changing your career, looking to go into tech or if you’re thinking of the best tech career path to take.

This article provides a breakdown for the top 8 rewarding and highly sought-after tech careers for you.

Attracting top tech talent has become a real priority for most companies worldwide in the last few years as we all scramble to adapt to a tight and competitive IT job market.

See How Technology Is Driving Change In Almost Every Major Industry

Reports like Robert Half Technology’s 2020 IT salary report and data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics have indicated the most in-demand IT roles. Staying on top of hiring trends means companies need to start filling those positions ranging from security-related to AI engineering roles. It also means that you as a professional should leverage the information to identify the best opportunity for you to further improve your employability skills and attributes.  So what are these 8 rewarding and highly sought-after tech careers?

1. Machine Learning/AI Engineer

Median annual salary:                      £76,250
Median salary change from 2019: +12.96%

The emerging field of automation is becoming the focus of the tech industry, placing Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (ML) Engineers in high demand. By most measures, this means AI, ML jobs are among the best tech jobs for those concerned about the future. Image recognition, natural language processing and economic forecasting are just a few of the subjects AI developers spend their time training models in using big data.

A successful AI Engineer will generally need four key skill sets:

• Knowledge of machine learning theory to help you choose the best model to implement and approach data problems with an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of multiple approaches.
• Statistical inference: AI Engineers need to be able to quickly evaluate whether their model works or not.
• Domain-level knowledge that will allow you to communicate data insights to business stakeholders.
• Software engineering: Those working with artificial intelligence/machine learning will often work with tools like Spark, C#, Pandas, Scikit-Learn and TensorFlow.

2. Cybersecurity

Median annual salary:                      £57,500
Median salary change from 2019: +5%

Cybersecurity professionals and those with experience in data, information, network, systems and cloud security are in high demand this year as everyday business operations are increasingly dependent on data. Potential threats both inside and outside the organisations must be neutralised in order to protect enterprise IT initiatives, and these IT professionals are the ones to do it. The security of the business’s networks, hardware and software must also be ensured, and cybersecurity professionals are often tasked with keeping on top of industry compliance regulations and future security trends.

A successful cybersecurity expert will need eight key skills:

• Malware analysis and reversing.
• Basic understanding of programming languages.
• Penetration testing.
• Cyber-governance related soft-skills like IOT security, network security, identity and access management.
• Security analysis.
• Cloud security.
• Risk analysis and mitigation.
• Knowledge of trojans and backdoor codes.

3. Data Scientist

Median annual salary:                      £62,500
Median salary change from 2019: +3.29%

The next one of these 8 rewarding and highly sought-after tech careers is Data Scientist. Every day, businesses and companies are collecting more and more data. Data science is more important than ever for this reason, so lots of organisations are really pushing for more skilled experts in the field. In order for a business to be able to make informed decisions, the Data Scientist must spend hours presenting, analysing and cleaning data. Data science is incredibly high up in the rankings of IT positions and shows no signs of coming back down.

A successful Data Scientist will need these key skills:

• Ensemble methods, k-nearest neighbours and random forests.
• Ability to deal with imperfections in data.
• Data logging.
• Data intuition.
• Data visualisation & communication.
• Multivariable calculus & linear algebra.
• A database querying language like SQL and a statistical programming language like R or Python.

As seen from these first three roles of 8 rewarding and highly sought-after tech careers, there are a lot of skills and knowledge requirements that are common to multiple tech positions. This same rule applies to the remaining five items on our list.

See 10 ways Artificial Intelligence Will Change Your Career

4. BI (Business Intelligence) Analyst

Median annual salary:                      £45,000
Median salary change from 2019: +6.67%

Experience with reporting tools, SQL programming and analytics are the order of the day for aspiring Business Intelligence (BI) Analysts. Undergraduate qualifications in engineering, business or information systems are also requirements (or at the very least preferences) for many employers. A BI Analyst needs to be able to communicate to stakeholders a company’s unique data with complete understanding and clarity. As many businesses turn from simply harvesting data to making sense of it, this role is growing in importance amongst these 8 popular tech careers.

Infographic: 8 Rewarding and Highly Sought-After Tech Careers by Catherine Adenle

5. Software Engineer

Median annual salary:                      £55,000
Median salary change from 2019: +5.26%

Next in the list of these 8 rewarding and highly sought-after tech careers is that of a Software Engineer. A career in software development or engineering, for those interested in this thriving field, can be reached in a number of ways. Of all the jobs on this list, Software Engineering is one of the most versatile. Every day, without even thinking about it, the average person will use the work of one or more Software Engineers. They developed our Internet browsers and the apps on our phones. This work is in high demand and showing no signs of decreasing.

See 10 Hot Careers in Tech Right Now

6. Cloud Architect

Median annual salary:                      £80,000
Median salary change from 2019: +3.23%

Another of these 8 popular tech careers is that of a Cloud architect. Responsible for supporting, releasing and managing cloud applications, Cloud Architects oversee a company’s entire cloud computing strategy. In addition to security, scaling and programming skills a Cloud Architect will typically have a strong understanding of multiple operating systems. Individuals with experience of vendor management, networking, I&O, governance and automation and a strong knowledge of cloud services like Amazon Web Services are in good standing for these roles.

See the Most Sought-After Tech Career Skills

7. Computer Research Scientist

Median annual salary:                      £60,000
Median salary change from 2019: +30%

Of all the possible tech careers, Computer Research Science is one of the most rewarding and financially sound. Technological innovation would be impossible without Computer Research Scientists. These experts help drive progress by discovering and exploring new ways to do amazing things with computer technology.

8. Web/Software/Mobile Developer

Median annual salary:                      £40,000
Median salary change from 2019: +95.45%

Software systems are all maintained, invented, developed, installed and tested by Web, Software and Mobile Developers. Developers work with multiple programming languages such as SQL Server, Python, C++, HTML, Java and Microsoft .NET to build, structure and design mobile apps, programmes and websites. To ensure they meet user needs, they need to be able to understand client requirements and be able to provide recommendations for improving mobile applications, websites and software.

See 10 Effective Ways to Manage Your Career in a Tech-Driven World

Now that you have explored these 8 popular tech careers, are there other popular ones to add? Although, these 8 rewarding and highly sought-after tech careers listed above are important to the tech world, others are as equally vital too. Could you add others? Leave your comments below.