Dominating Indeed’s list of the most in-demand jobs of 2019, developers are some of the most sought after job positions. As the demand for digital transformation projects in the enterprise increases, the need for individuals who can bring these digital applications into fruition follows.
Digital transformation projects have gained ground because of the success they bring companies. The success is so significant that four out of five IT professionals believe digital transformation is critical for modern day business survival, Masergy’s 2019 Digital Transformation Market Trends Report found.
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Developers are responsible for building and executing the software and applications necessary to deploy these projects, according to TechRepublic’s How to become a developer: A cheat sheet.
However, professionals must stay up to date on their skills if they want to be successful developers. Employees must evolve to keep up with a digital workforce, or else risk being replaced by better talent.
SEE: How to build a successful developer career (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
To help developers hone in on the right skills, Sara Faatz, senior product marketing manager at Progress, outlined the following five most in-demand developer skills:
1. Web development: .NET and JavaScript
Both JavaScript and .NET have been long time developer favorites, and will continue to stay popular, according to Faatz.
“In the .NET space, all flavors of ASP.NET remain in high demand and we are seeing a rise in popularity of ASP.NET Core and Blazor. Blazor is still a very new technology – Microsoft just removed the ‘experimental’ tag from it this spring – but it is showing an incredible amount of interest because it essentially allows .NET to run in the browser,” Faatz said.
As for Javascript, Angular developer are on the rise, as well as React developers. “Angular has reached a level of maturity that often signals safety in a platform. While React is a newer framework, the learning curve for Angular (and even .NET developers) is small – due in part to the fact that the lightweight library only deals with the view layer,” Faatz added. “This, combined with features like reusable components and the virtual DOM, make React appealing to the enterprise.”
SEE: Hiring kit: JavaScript developer (TechRepublic Premium)
2. Mobile development
“We live in a mobile world and our end users are becoming more savvy,” Faatz said. “Their expectations for their mobile experiences continue to rise. A mobile developer who has an understanding of cross-platform development and user experience is going to find himself or herself in high demand.”
SEE: Hiring kit: Android developer (TechRepublic Premium)
3. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning
“The increased popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning and its promise to automate everyday tasks means people with these skills and expertise are in high demand,” Faatz said. “AI & machine learning are the brains of the smarter applications. Through these technologies, the application learns from patterns of behavior and are able to more intelligently respond or produce an action. Developers who understand how to build, implement and use AI and ML effectively – and understand that these are powerful tools – are in high demand.”
SEE: Hiring kit: IoT developer (TechRepublic Premium)
4. Full-stack development
Full-stack developers are able to configure the front and back end development needs of the project. “He or she can develop the user interface, the business logic, and the database layer. While a full-stack developer doesn’t have to be an expert in all of the technologies, he or she should be proficient in all,” Faatz said, “With so many developers specializing these days, a full-stack developer is like your jack of all trades. He or she brings a great amount of value to the development team/program because they have a holistic view of the application and can contribute wherever they are needed.”
SEE: Hiring kit: Salesforce Developer (TechRepublic Premium)
5. User experience development
“You could write the most beautiful code – the kind your mom would proudly display on her refrigerator – but if the end user experience is flawed in some way the perfect code means nothing,” Faatz said.
“A developer with knowledge and experience in user experience will have to be able to contribute to the visual layout of the website or application,” she added. “He or she will have a solid understanding of the business needs, have some experience with design or work with designers, and are able to translate user research into interfaces that provide a frictionless, responsive, visually appealing experience for the end user.”
SEE: Hiring kit: User experience specialist (TechRepublic Premium)
Also see
- How to become a developer: A cheat sheet (TechRepublic)
- Implementing DevOps: A guide for IT pros (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
- Telephone interview cheat sheet: Software developer (TechRepublic Premium)
- Programming languages: Developers reveal most loved, most loathed, what pays best (ZDNet)
- It takes work to keep your data private online. These apps can help (CNET)
- Programming languages and developer career resources (TechRepublic on Flipboard)
Image: iStockphoto/Rawpixel
