Tech Talent Growth and Demand: What’s Going On?

Technology is expanding and growing to include every aspect of life. Our personal, public, and commercial life greatly depend on tech. In the future, we will need tech more than we do now. Already, demand for tech talent is rapidly increasing. For example, as businesses and public services adopt the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), companies are vying for tech talent now more than ever before. Hence, the hiring rate for technology-related skills increased 60 percent in May 2022, in just one state in the US alone. On Jan 11, 2022, Statista reported that most organizations plan to increase the hiring of technology-related talent by 20 to 40 percent.

One may wonder what is behind this sharp increase in tech talent demand. The reason is the growing complexity of tasks in every business and sector. The list of companies relying on IT professionals is becoming longer every day. AI is revolutionizing the workplace. Companies need tech talent to add efficiency to tasks. Therefore, opportunities in tech careers are increasing noticeably. From 2015 to 2019, demand for software engineers in the US increased by 69 percent, machine learning talent by 417 percent, data science by 167 percent, and DevOps by 443 percent. The figure below illustrates the rapid tech workforce growth in recent years.

Tech Job Salaries

Tech jobs also remain among the most lucrative in the world. As the demand for IT professionals grows, their salaries are also increasing. You can see here the lucrative salaries they grab each year:

• Data Scientist - $150,000

• Blockchain Engineer - $150,000

• DevOps Engineer - $140,000

• Big Data Engineer - $140,000

• Internet of Things (IoT) Solutions Architect - $130,000

• Software Architect - $114,000

• Artificial Intelligence Engineer - $110,000

• Cloud Architect - $107,000.

• Full-Stack Developer - $106,000

• Product Manager - $100,000

Even online tech jobs are paid lucratively. In the past two years, searches for online jobs increased by 460 percent. It is likely that most of these are in the tech sector because technology-related jobs can be done online, and professionals only need a reliable internet connection and laptop or computer to work from any part of the world.

Outsourcing Tech Talent

The interesting thing is that companies from all over the world can outsource tech talent for good. Many reasons contribute to this. Reduced cost, scalable workforce, and access to specialized experts are among the top reasons. However, the most viable reason is to tame and meet the enormous demand that is growing daily.

Latin America is the ideal place for filling the increasing tech talent demand. These countries have a high number of tech graduates, high-ranking developers, multilingual talent, affordable hourly costs, and a wide range of programming skills. You would not find all these features in one place anywhere else.

Untouched by Recent Layoffs

While many job holders have been badly affected by the layoffs that have recently hit the world with the post-COVID recession, that tech talent has safely avoided these layoffs should not surprise anyone. Technology dependence and use increased with the pandemic; hence, tech sector jobs increased. The high recruiting rate in the tech sector has also made salaries skyrocket.

In 2022, the world plunged into uncertainty because of the Ukraine war and inflation that affected every country. Companies had no option other than layoffs to manage costs. This situation has instilled worry and fear in employees. Still, there is strong hope for the tech talent pool because layoffs do not include them. A large assortment of opportunities is open for software engineers, developers, programmers, online marketers, and data specialists. Those recently removed from a job in a company are more likely to get rehired for their tech talent.

The Brightest Hope for Tech Talent

Despite the general layoffs, the e-commerce industry has every opportunity to withstand the considerable impact. You need to reroute your direction if you want to ride the new wave of opportunities. Corporates are more careful in expanding their ventures and investing in new directions. However, they need an ongoing tech pool to continue despite the recession. Tech jobs can save employees from getting lost in the great layoff.

While this is a challenging time for companies and employees, every cloud has a silver lining. Companies can outsource work and get the best skills from all over the world, especially from Latin America. The cost will be affordable and a broad range of skills will give them the power to select the best. A vast population speaks English, especially in the capital cities, like Buenos Aires and Mexico City. So, companies can continue to scale by outsourcing regardless of the recession or other destructive economic impacts.

Just compare the per-hour cost of tech talent in the US:

Location Average developer rate:

US: US$75-250 per hour

Latam: US$40-75 per hour

Asia: $30-50 per hour

Conclusion

Technology incorporation in personal and commercial life will continue to increase. In the future, tech talent will be more in demand as companies need tech experts in every department. Technology professionals will play a primary role in the scalable growth of companies and meeting market needs, meaning tech talent will escape layoffs unscathed.

The US tech talent pool is insufficient to feed the market demand. This may sound unfortunate but it is not. Skills in other parts of the world, especially in Latin America, can rescue the companies from drowning in the big demand and supply gap of tech talent. Outsourcing jobs in the e-commerce sector can save companies from a problem that may become the biggest obstacle on the path to scalability.

I think the increasing demand for experts in the tech sector is tamable provided we think strategically and include distant tech talent in our calculations. Working online is a rising market trend and companies' and employees' response to this trend is highly positive.