Top Jobs of the Future: Emerging Roles and Skills You Need

If you’ve been paying attention to LinkedIn and job postings in the last couple of years, you’ve probably noticed that tech jobs are everywhere. It seems like almost every organization, even in the most traditional sectors, is hiring for tech roles. But what’s so attractive about technology as a career path? Let’s see:

The tech industry is competitive, but it's becoming much more attainable to get your foot in the door thanks to bootcamps and certificate programs. For many jobs, a college degree isn’t required, you only need to demonstrate coding skills and once you’re in, you can basically design your career path and move between different roles. 

Top Jobs of the Future

Software engineer

One of the top jobs with the most opportunities is the role of software engineer. Because nearly every product or service we use is connected to the internet in some way, companies are working hard to stay competitive and innovative in the digital arena. 

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the demand for software engineers is set to grow 22% this decade. There’s so much demand for web developers and engineers that there isn’t enough talent in the pipeline and bootcamps like Ironhack have come along to fill the need. 

Software engineer salary

What does a software engineer do? Far from just writing long lines of code, software engineers and developers collaborate with designers and managers to build products and solve problems. Knowing programming languages is a must, as well as soft skills like communication. 

We all know Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, but have you heard of female programmer Linda Liukas? Hailing from Finland, Linda authored a book that introduces kids to coding. She also founded Rails Girls, a global movement to teach young women how to code. Aside from coding, Linda now travels the world giving TED talks and keynote speeches.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Cybersecurity professional

As more companies and systems move online, their information becomes vulnerable to cyberattacks. Cybersecurity professionals are in high demand to keep data safe from hackers and leaks and thousands of new jobs in information security are expected to open up in the next decade as digital transformation continues to expand, with employment growth soaring to 31% by 2030.

Cybersecurity salaries:

Information security analysts focus most of their time on designing and implementing security systems, patches, and tests. How can you become an information security analyst? Having a computer science background and experience with penetration testing are great ways to enter the field. 

Kevin Mitnick is a well-known security analyst who made himself famous by hacking into the systems of 40 different companies just for fun, landing him on a list of Most Wanted individuals. He’s now a public speaker and the author of several books related to information security.

Data analysts

With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), we’re seeing an unprecedented amount of data, creating a treasure trove for many different industries. Companies are asking themselves, “how do we make sense of all this data we collect?” and this is where data scientists shine - translating huge amounts of data into digestible, actionable insights. 

Organizations are scrambling to get data analysts on board, making data analysts one of the tech jobs with the highest demand, ranking third on Glassdoor’s top 50 jobs for 2022. By 2026, the field is expected to grow by 27%. 

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Data analyst salaries:

​​On any given day, a data analyst might design a process for modeling data, create algorithms to extract and analyze data or create visualizations to make the data easier to understand. To get a job in data science, you’ll need knowledge of programming languages Python, SAS, R and SQL, as well as solid skills in Excel, Tableau, and PowerBI.

Data Science is also one of the more fulfilling career paths to break into, with an average 4/5 job satisfaction score on Glassdoor!

One data analyst you should know is Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera, where he’s been instrumental in helping make data science accessible to the world. He currently works at Baidu in Deep Learning, Big Data, and AI, and serves as associate professor at Stanford. He founded the Deep Learning Project at Google. 

Artificial intelligence specialist

AI Specialist roles are rapidly increasing due to advancements in artificial intelligence. For instance, AI Specialists develop machine learning models that can predict consumer behavior, automate tasks, and enhance decision-making processes in various industries. Companies like Google and Amazon are leading employers in this field.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, AI Specialist roles are projected to grow by 57% by 2025, making it one of the top emerging job roles. Additionally, LinkedIn's 2022 Jobs on the Rise report highlights AI Specialists as high-demand roles with competitive salaries.

Web designer (UX/UI)

As the tech industry becomes increasingly aware of the importance of user-centered design, there’s a growing demand for skilled UX and UI designers. These web designers focus on user research, layouts, mockups and testing websites and apps. 

As businesses invest more heavily in UX and UI, web design is becoming a profession with more opportunities and plenty of room to grow. In fact, UX is listed as one of LinkedIn’s top 20 skills to learn. The field of web design is expected to grow 21% in the coming years, with thousands of job openings available at any given time. It also has a job satisfaction score of 4.1/5 on Glassdoor.

Source: TechCrunch

UX/UI salaries:

One of the world’s most famous web designers is Steve Krug. He wrote a best-selling UX book, Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, and a second book, Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems. Steve has been focused on the user experience for over 20 years, working with Apple, Bloomberg, NPR, and many others.

Product manager

Tech’s rapid acceleration is completely changing the way we do business, and it’s not enough to hire only developers. Product management is a booming field and product managers are key to keeping up with growing customer demands.  

According to the Wall Street Journal, 7% of Harvard Business school graduates took jobs in product management, and Airfocus reports that interest in this career has doubled in recent years. What’s more, Product Manager is listed as #10 on LinkedIn’s Top 20 Best Jobs list. Though not at the same pace as other future tech jobs, with a projected growth rate of 5% by 2030, it’s still safe to say that product managers aren’t going away anytime soon.

Product manager salaries:

Product managers are the link between data, business, UX, sales, and marketing. Strategic thinking and cross-functional communication are top skills in this visionary career. 

One of the most exciting things about product management and its rapid rise in popularity is how diverse it is. Being a blend of so many disciplines means that professionals can come from all sorts of backgrounds and launch successful product careers. 

Take for example Nina Foroutan, currently Director of Product Management at Forbes. Nina started out in journalism as a Desk Editor for Hearst. Being on the news room floor gave her valuable experience which helped her to empathize with her teams when she got to the top at Forbes.

Digital marketer

While it’s not usually considered a ‘tech role’ because it doesn’t involve coding, every tech company needs digital marketers. Writing code, analyzing data and building products are great, but without digital marketers, how would the world find out about your company? 

Like other fast-growing tech jobs, digital marketing demand is on the rise, and in particular, the demand for social media marketing skills has jumped over 50% since the beginning of the pandemic. Overall, the field of digital marketing is expected to grow a healthy 10% this decade. 

Digital marketer salaries:

Digital marketers need strategic, creative, and analytical skills combined with technical know-how to build brand awareness across digital channels. There’s a diverse range of jobs available in digital marketing, such as content specialist, marketing automation coordinator, social media manager, email marketer, and search engine optimization (SEO) analyst. 

While Seth Godin may be the most prominent name in marketing, there are a number of up-and-coming digital marketers to follow. Shama Hyder, already included in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, is referred to as the “Zen Master of Marketing” by Entrepreneur Magazine. She’s the CEO and founder of Zen Media as well as an author and keynote speaker. 

Web3 Developer

Web3 is the hottest topic in tech right now and is seeing a huge inflow of investment. What is Web3 and how is it different from the web we all know? Web3, a term coined back in 2014 by Ethereum founder Gavin Wood, is shaking up the current centralized version of the internet (Web2) and essentially transforming it into a decentralized peer-to-peer network that uses tokens and cryptocurrencies. Web3 is built on the blockchain using smart contracts. 

Forward-thinking companies are already thinking about Web3 and starting to hire developers who have expertise in crypto. As one of the fastest-growing future jobs, developers who know how to work with smart contracts on the blockchain are in extremely high demand as everyone is still getting up to speed with how Web3 works and there’s a major lack of capable engineers. 

Web3 developers can expect to earn €50,000 to €90,000 per year in Europe and $78,000 to $180,000 in the US. As the job market expands, more salary data will become available. 

Chris Dixon is a Web3 leader and the founder of investment company a16z Crypto, which invests heavily in Web3 technologies. Chris started out as a software developer in trading before getting into the Web3 investing space. He writes thought pieces such as Why Web3 Matters. 

How To Get Into Tech

Fortunately, it doesn’t take a college degree to jumpstart your coding career! You can learn all the skills you need to become a developer, digital marketer, product manager, or designer with a bootcamp by Ironhack and in a few short months you can be on your way to a new career. 

Our Career Services team is dedicated to landing you the tech job of your dreams so if you want to learn more about working in the tech industry, check out our events, choose your bootcamp, and kickstart your tech career.

How to Prepare for Future Jobs

About the Author:

Juliette Carreiro is a tech writer, with two years of experience writing in-depth articles for Ironhack. Covering everything from career advice and navigating the job ladder, to the future impact of AI in the global tech space, Juliette is the go-to for Ironhack’s community of aspiring tech professionals.