Clarkston Sponsors NC Tech NC IT Job Trends Report for October
Business consulting leader Clarkston Consulting and coding education provider Momentum Learning are sponsoring the NC Tech Association IT Job Trends Report. This month’s report featured North Carolina IT jobs trends for the month of October 2020. Some of the information featured in the report includes the top occupations, metropolitan statistical areas, hard skills and certifications, hirers of tech talent, and North Carolina versus overall USA job postings for the month. Excerpts from the report and a link to the full report for the NC Tech Association are included below.
Report Highlights
While the country continues to experience the ups and downs of the coronavirus pandemic, the month of October saw gains in employment opportunities in the tech sector with 29,174 open positions in the month of October, a roughly 10% gain from the previous month. While the COVID-19 cases may be on the rise, news of possible vaccines on the near-term horizon have buoyed sentiments in many market segments, particularly healthcare and pharmaceuticals, where employment opportunities continue to remain steady.
As businesses grapple with the vulnerabilities and challenges highlighted by the novel coronavirus pandemic, their focus is turning away from triaging the immediate impacts of the virus to adjust tech operations and strategies to best position their business for the future. With that mindset, demand for innovation skills have grown 6% over the previous year as leaders look for new and advanced capabilities to improve resilience and agility in the face of uncertainty.
With the close of 2020 on the horizon and news of a potential federal stimulus in the new year, optimism remains for continued growth in employment opportunities in spite of sharp increases in COVID cases across the country. While the country has experienced overall declines in employment opportunities and subsequent rises in unemployment, North Carolina – particularly in tech-heavy areas such as Raleigh-Durham – have been recognized as geographic areas with the greatest stability in employment over the course of 2020.
How to Plan for Future Workplace Trends
To meet today’s job market and future workplace trends, it is important to align your career planning and skill development with the large-scale shifts affecting how business gets done. Many employers quickly shifted their business models and pivoted to remote work environments this year. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, this change in how people work necessitates technological advancement in all industries. IT professionals and web engineers will help drive this evolution for organizations and remain on the forefront of in-demand careers.
When it comes to cultivating skills for 2021 and beyond, predictions say employers will focus less on roles and more on employee’s skills. Rather than plan for your next role, consider developing critical skills in tech that are applicable to several opportunities in your career. Candidates with specific skill sets such as software development, software engineering, or Python – up +15.33%, +58.29%, and +26.81% year-over-year respectively this October – may expect employers to offer benefits that encourage longevity.
Building, Growing, & Supporting Career
Momentum builds, grows, and supports software development talent, providing relevant skills training for the modern workplace. Clarkston Consulting solves business and technology problems for the world’s leading life sciences and consumer products companies. Clarkston Consulting and Momentum are investing in North Carolina by helping visionary companies deploy new and inclusive strategies to find, develop and retain the best technology talent.
Read the full report on North Carolina IT job trends from the NC Tech Association for the month of October here.