Data jobs platform outlines its predictions for the job market
If our experience of the 2020s so far has taught us anything, it’s that the future is hard to predict. While many of the decade’s events have been, as we’re often told, unprecedented, there’s one overarching area we can all agree will continue to flourish in the year ahead — data. Here, Jonathan Hedger, co-founder of the UK’s only data analytics jobs platform, OnlyDataJobs, outlines his predictions for the data job market in 2023.
Before delving into what those working in data analytics can expect in the next twelve months, it’s worth reflecting on the industry as a whole. One thing is for certain — appetite for data-driven decisions will not wane.
In Gartner’s own Top ten strategic technology trends for 2023, we see three clear themes. First, organisations seek to optimise IT systems for increased reliability and data insight, maintaining the integrity of AI systems. Next, businesses are looking to scale their vertical offerings through heightened connectivity across all areas. And finally, the predictions show a thirst for pioneering change for both employee and user experience, with the reinvention of current Business models.
Ultimately, businesses want to see real, connected, data-driven change across all areas of their offering. What may be lacking, however, are the data professionals that can incite that change. Casting a glimpse over another set of predictions, this time from IDC, it pre-empts that, through 2024, shortcomings in skills creation and training by IT leaders will prevent 65 per cent of businesses from achieving full value from automation, cloud and data investments.
A report, published by the Royal Society in 2019, claimed that in the five previous years demand for data scientists across industry had increased by 200 per cent. Looking at the market today, we can see demand for those skills hasn’t dwindled. What having that talent could enable, however, has shifted into something much bigger.
2023 is going to usher in a new age of data-led strategy in Big Tech. But surely Big Tech is already data-led? Well, not quite. Gut feel led to Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, as did Meta’s attempt to create a metaverse. However, a relocation of strategy into the hands of scientists, not just adventurous CEOs, will help Big Tech avoid those well-documented hiccups we’ve seen in 2022.
Really, the key will be getting the right talent in the right places. Forrester’s 2023 European outlook claims it takes 69 days to fill tech roles, compared to 41 days for the overall market.
