Job trends in 2021

In recent years, both businesses and jobs have been in a state of flux. In order to stay ahead during the time of crises and uncertainties, both organisations and employees need to understand important career trends during the period and what they can expect in the future. This year, the pandemic has triggered transformation in almost all sectors.

The beginning of a new year holds newer hopes, opportunities and possibilities. So let’s take a look at five career trends of the year.

Business intelligence analyst

There has been a massive upsurge in businesses incorporating new technologies and generating data. According to global human resource consulting firm Robert Half, the role Business Intelligence Analyst is ranked second among the 10 most in-demand tech jobs for 2020. And amidst the ongoing pandemic and crises, businesses require new strategies to survive, leading to an increase in the demand for business intelligence analysts. A business intelligence analyst empowers organisations to make better decisions and devise smarter business strategies in order to achieve business goals and objectives.

Allied Market Research predicts that the embedded business intelligence analytics market will reach up to $60.28 billion by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 13.6%. Thus, we can expect an increased demand for business intelligence analysts in the coming years.

Cybersecurity expert

Due to worldwide lockdown and the new normal of working remotely, dependency on the internet and internet-powered applications has increased manifold leading to massive data generation.

This surge in internet dependency has also led to an increase in cyber attacks. Companies have increasingly become focused on securing their data and networks. Still, three big Indian companies have faced major cyber attacks since May 2020.

Organisations are actively hiring cyber security experts to ensure network protection from cyber threats. Cybersecurity has emerged as a recession-resilient domain and one of the next booming sectors of the future. Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that there will be 3.5 million vacant cybersecurity expert jobs by 2021 globally.

Cloud architect

Covid-19 has drastically changed the way the workforce operates. With companies adopting remote working practices to survive the crisis, migration from on-premises to cloud servers has increased significantly. According to Robert Half, the role of a cloud architect is third in the list of 10 most in-demand tech jobs for 2020.

The need to ensure continuous on-site and off-site presence with zero-disruption to business operations is also leading to the adoption of cloud-based collaborative applications.

This accelerated shift has increased the demand for proficient cloud architects in the market and the demand is only set to increase in the coming years.

Product manager

Product managers devise product roadmaps, draw goals and vision for the product, and encourage the team to build that vision into a reality as per consumers’ needs. They are like glue in any organisation, binding the non-technical teams with technical ones and guiding a product’s success.

In today’s market, there are more than 20,000 active product manager jobs on various portals and this number will continue to rise in the future.

A career in product management will further be recognised as a lifelong profession. More job openings in the product management domain can be expected to increase, both in the high-tech and traditional industries.

AI specialist

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has swiftly become a part of our daily lives. IT giants, like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, have seen an increase in overall business profits by leveraging the power of AI in their business processes.

In 2020, AI Specialists are being actively hired by companies with lucrative salary packages. Today, more than one lakh active AI specialist jobs are available on job portals, and this number is predicted to grow in the coming years.

As per Juniper Research’s report, eCommerce transactions via chatbots are predicted to grow up to $112 billion by 2023, which will increase the demand for skilled AI specialists in the market.

The aftermath of the pandemic has caused a lot of uncertainty in the job market. Though everyone is looking forward to going back to a ‘normal life’ in a post-Covid work, it is impossible to say how future events will unfold.

However, the five jobs listed here cover the major career trends in 2020 and have set the benchmark for what to expect in 2021.

(The author is the co-founder and CEO of a data science institute based out of Bengaluru)