Surge in demand for IoT skills in the UK over the last 12 months, Gemalto analysis shows
Nicolas Chalvin, vice president – M2M /IoT Solutions & Services at Gemalto
Gemalto has found that the number of postings in the UK for positions requiring skills in Internet of Things (IoT) related technologies has increased by 70% over the past year, rising 120 places in the ranking of IT jobs.
The figures from UK jobs statistics website IT Jobs Watch, as of October 18, show that the growth in connected devices and implementation of smart city projects are fuelling demand for the skills needed to make them a success.
The data also showed that demand for the skills needed to make IoT projects successful was also on the rise:
- Cybersecurity: With the increasing connectivity needed to build smart cities and IoT environments, cybersecurity is going to play a big role in protecting businesses and consumers.
- Vacancies for cybersecurity roles rose substantially over the last year, increasing by 73%
- Companies are increasingly looking for people who can build Security Architecture, which rose by 43% and also for Security Engineers, demand for which rose by 9%
- Data management: With the IoT set to collect record amounts of data, organisations are now looking to their technology specialists to help ensure this is securely collected and managed.
- The median salary for a Data Manager grew by 7%
- Enterprise data management is also in demand, with the skill increasing its ranking of importance in IT jobs by 35 places compared to 2015
- Turning data into insights: Once the data is secure and being managed properly, companies are then turning to the people with the skills to analyse it.
- Those comfortable around Big Data are becoming sought after, with the skill moving up 12 places in the list of most desired attributes
- The number of permanent jobs citing data analytics rose by 15% and 62 places in the rankings
- Demand for Artificial Intelligence knowledge has also seen rapid growth, becoming one of the most desired skills around, with the number of roles mentioning it increasing by 300%. This resulted in an impressive rise of 240 places in the most sort after skills in IT
Nicolas Chalvin, vice president – M2M / IoT Solutions & Services at Gemalto, commented: “Technology moves at an incredibly fast pace and companies are continuously looking for the people with the skills to help them embrace the latest innovations.
Growth in smart cities is building interest in IoT but in order to get ahead, companies need to be looking for a range of skills, not just one, to set them apart from their competitors. As a result, we’re starting to see new roles such as IoT Architect and IoT Engineer being introduced to the market as companies look for the best way to tap into the IoT market.
“Given the growth in demand for IoT knowledge, it’s encouraging to see demand for cybersecurity skills also on the increase – showing that organisations appreciate the need to secure the data they collect. As more IoT projects go live, keeping these secure is vital to ensuring consumer confidence in their usage, protecting confidential data and making them a success.”
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