All around the world, IT departments are facing similar challenges. Worrying skills gaps, heavy workloads and new cybersecurity threats are ever-present. Understanding how the IT community is reacting to \u2013 and coping with \u2013 these demands is hugely valuable.<\/p>\n
The IT Skills and Salary Report<\/a>, a comprehensive study by Global Knowledge, provides that intelligence based on a survey of over 16,000 IT professionals.<\/p>\n By reporting on key areas such as compensation, certifications, professional development and job satisfaction, the study shows the skills in greatest demand, as well as the challenges facing IT professionals worldwide, and how their roles may change going forward.<\/p>\n Its findings corroborate of the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2018<\/a>, which estimates that automation and AI could displace 75 million jobs by 2022 \u2013 while creating 133 million new roles.<\/p>\n More than two-thirds of IT decision-makers report a gap between their team\u2019s skill levels and the knowledge required to achieve organizational objectives. They are universally concerned about whether their teams have the skills needed to meet their goals.<\/p>\n Blockchain is the most desired skillset, and the skill that\u2019s most lacking. It\u2019s closely followed by AI and cognitive computing.<\/p>\n 38% of those surveyed reported that they were having a difficult time finding qualified cybersecurity talent, while 29% identified cloud computing as a recruitment challenge. About 25% of respondents listed virtualization, networking, Internet of Things (IoT) and AI\/cognitive computing as investment priorities for their organizations.<\/p>\n The study also shows increased respect for the value of certifications. In Global Knowledge\u2019s , 70% of IT professionals believed that certifications lead to a more effective staff. Today that figure is over 90%. The most coveted certifications are in blockchain, cloud computing and DevOps.<\/p>\n Respondents across the board noted a correlation between certification and a rise in productivity \u2013 as well as a reduction in skills gaps. This is one reason why certified professionals working in EMEA earn about $3,000 more than those with no certifications.<\/p>\n With that in mind, Microsoft Level Up<\/a> has been developed to take your cloud skills to another level \u2013 and provide the certifications to prove it. \u00a0Also, Azure Heroes on Microsoft Level Up<\/a> rewards individuals with collectible \u2018digital badgers\u2019 allowing them to showcase their achievements, community contributions and expertise.<\/p>\n Globally, 60% of IT decision-makers report that business is good. But with 65% also saying that hiring qualified talent is a problem, workloads have consequently become challenging for 75% of respondents. An alarming 37% went even further and said that work pressure is \u2018very challenging\u2019 or \u2018the worst they\u2019ve seen\u2019.<\/p>\n Never has the need to fill our IT skills gaps been more pressing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All around the world, IT departments are facing similar challenges. Worrying skills gaps, heavy workloads and new cybersecurity threats are ever-present. Understanding how the IT community is reacting to \u2013 and coping with \u2013 these demands is hugely valuable. The IT Skills and Salary Report, a comprehensive study by Global Knowledge, provides that intelligence based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":559,"featured_media":344177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-343220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","specials-skill-forward-en","stories-how-can-i-skill-my-team-and-myself-on-tech-and-data","stories-tech-audience-skilling-en","businessPriorities-applications-infrastructure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343220"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382172,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343220\/revisions\/382172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Skills gaps are a global concern<\/strong><\/h2>\n
A serious demand for cloud computing and cybersecurity <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Certifications really matter <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Business is good but workloads are heavy <\/strong><\/h2>\n