By Susan Armstrong
While “pivot,” “new normal” and “unprecedented” may have been some of the most annoying buzzwords to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s no denying that the ability to change, move, and especially upskill, is now critical in today’s job market.
Jobs are changing more quickly than people can meet business needs. With such rapid movement in tech, the World Economic Forum (WEF) projects that half of all jobs in the world will require a change in skill sets by 2027.
That means a lot of new tech job openings will be coming up.
Karin Kimbrough, LinkedIn’s chief economist, says that in the next five years the company expects almost 150 million new tech jobs. And, according to management consulting firm Korn Ferry, there will be a global shortage of more than 85 million tech workers by 2030 – roughly equivalent to the population of Germany.
Left unchecked, this could result in $8.5 trillion (€8 trillion) in lost annual revenue.
More demand for tech skills
The rise in demand for tech talent is not exclusive to Europe – it’s a global concern. The economies expected to be hardest hit include Japan, Brazil and Indonesia, which could face shortages of up to 18 million workers each, with China facing a deficit of 12 million, and the US and Russia expected to be short six million workers apiece.
Of course, the tech skills shortage is nothing new, but as an increasing number of non-tech companies continue to develop a technology infrastructure, demand for tech skills will continue to rise, despite the reset the tech industry is currently going through.
These roles include systems managers, analysts and administrators, data scientists and researchers, programmers and developers, as well as customer-facing technical roles.
So, whether you want to change jobs completely, or show your current boss that you’re ready for new challenges, it’s essential you start upskilling to ensure you’ll be able to adapt to business needs.
In fact, without continuously growing your skills, you could become obsolete quicker than you realise.
Technology bootcamps
The good news is there are plenty of ways to educate yourself and upskill, and one particularly powerful way is with a technology bootcamp.
The concept originated from teaching new graduates software development skills. Today, a well-designed bootcamp can provide you with the skills to engineer full-stack software solutions proficiently, in anywhere from four to 60 weeks.
Of course, nothing beats years of education and work experience, but bootcamps can be a fantastic tool to give you a solid foundation on which you can build.
There are a number of well-regarded ones, like Code Institute – the world’s first credit-rated coding bootcamp – located in Dublin, Ireland; Ironhack, a top-ranking school with locations in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid and Paris; and Generation, a global organisation with bootcamp-style training programs in 17 countries and a global reach of 72,214 graduates.
Following the bootcamp, you will be able to contribute more, and you will be a greater asset to future employers. Speaking of, here are three great employers hiring across Europe now.
PayPal
PayPal’s mission statement says it upholds “collaboration, innovation, wellness and inclusion as our guide for making decisions and conducting business every day”.
The mission statement also adds that Paypalrespects and values diversity of thought for everyone, and it actively seeks to create energising workplaces.
Paypal is currently looking for software engineers, data scientists and machine learning engineers, to name just a few. If you’re looking to shape the future of money, it has multiple roles on offer around the world.
Discover open roles at Paypal here.
Founded in 1998 by two computer science students in a university dorm, Google now employs over 100,000 employees and has over 100 offices globally.
These “Googlers” build products to help create opportunities for everyone. The work environment is open to people who want to be part of developing innovative technology, campaigns, products and partnerships.
The company is currently looking for technical solution engineers, supply chain architects and data centre electrical developers.
You can view current opportunities at Google here.
IBM
According to IBM, their staff do more than work. They create, as technologists, developers and engineers, with their partners and competitors.
Inclusion is a major priority for the multinational tech corporation.
The company states that its strength lies in the diversity of its employees, recognising the unique value every individual brings to the workplace.
If you’re searching for ways to make the world work better, through technology and infrastructure, software and consulting, IBM could be the right place for you.
The company is currently hiring application support engineers, site reliability engineers and front-end developers.
You can view all the roles on offer at IBM here.
Want to put your newly-acquired tech skills to work? Visit Euronews.jobs for lots of fantastic roles all across the continent.
