Automation, outsourcing, and rapidly evolving technologies seem to be transforming IT jobs across the UK.
Harvey Nash’s Tech Survey 2018, which received 3251 responses from techies with 410 different IT job titles, revealed that many IT employees expected their roles to change in the near future. It discovered that 40% of respondents expected their job to be automated within the next ten years, that 45% of corporate IT departments were reducing bespoke development spend, and that 61% of those aged 45+ felt their age was limiting their opportunities in the IT jobs market.
However, Crimson’s IT recruitment agency believes that the market is currently very buoyant, with the skills shortage making high quality candidates even more sought-after and valuable. Nevertheless, if you want to improve your job security and remain a coveted IT asset in the future, you should follow these recommendations:
How to make yourself into an indispensable IT employee
- Get real: Be honest with yourself when considering the question “Where am I adding value that no other person or machine can add?”. Write a list of the skills you have and those you don’t. Then plan your career so your job role focuses on things that humans are great at, like; creativity, dealing with complex multi-faceted problems, and influencing people.
- Align your career to innovation: Corporate IT teams are increasingly focusing their technology teams on driving new ideas, and cleverly gluing their existing systems together to gain competitive advantage. Therefore, you should seek out opportunities in software / cloud organisations which are growing their tech teams. However, remember your career should not just focus on technology. Look for roles in which you will get to work on achieving what is best for the customers and engaging key stakeholders.
- Be more Gandalf: If you’re over 45-years-old, or approaching it, start looking at leadership positions, as age (and a whitening beard) can be a distinct advantage in these roles. Also, look for management roles in innovative companies so you can launch your whacky ideas and sculpt those of others. These types of organisations are typically younger companies and have fewer preconceptions about age.
- Don’t get left behind: The Tech Survey revealed that 95% of respondents were actively developing their skills and four out of ten of them were not waiting for their employers but were doing this in their free time. If you want to remain a tech Rockstar, you need to put some serious practice in back stage!
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Crimson is an IT consultancy, an IT solutions provider, an IT recruitment agency, and a Microsoft Gold Partner operating across the UK.