What does the future of software developers look like? The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the technology industry in ways we are still unable to fathom. As the world prepares for a massive rebound in the leading economies, acquiring a truly global working culture will become essential to be able to secure work. You might remember we shared our thoughts on the future of work in our previous post, “The Future of Work: Top 10 Predictions for 2021.”
A growing trend of multi-skilled software developers and engineering professionals who can quickly and seamlessly adapt to unforeseen changes, industry shifts and volatile market conditions will be possibly the most valued trait in our tech teams of 2021. Based on what we’re seeing in the industry, as well as within our own ecosystem, we wanted to share a few thoughts to help software developers and other technologists uplevel their capabilities so that their skills are in high demand leading into the new year.
Specialized Tech Skills for 2021
Software developers who wish to stay ahead of the curve in tech should be preparing themselves for developing a wide range of specialized skills to face a game-changing year.
- By early 2020 we were all prepared for a massive need of Golang developers, a trend which has been verified over the present year; and although it has been a rather unusual year, we will continue to see some of the top coding languages still being the most wanted tech skills in 2021: Google’s Golang, Ruby, Kotlin and Swift for mobile app coding.
- Distributed cloud is also regarded as some of the key needs for companies that, as a consequence of this year’s pandemic, have accelerated their cloud transition; Cloud engineers are expected to be in high need by 2021, with a high demand of companies moving towards off-premise infrastructure solutions and platforms.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) has also proven to be a hot skill as next year’s “rebuilding cycle” approaches. More and more companies are investing heavily in AI projects, and need competent and experienced engineers with machine learning backgrounds. Additionally, AI projects can run the gamut based on company needs. For example, the Security Industry Association’s (SIA) annual Megatrends report* indicated that AI is the number one top trend for 2021.
- Robotics, drones and IoT will also play a key role in being the most wanted skills of 2021, as the world witnesses an unprecedented hyper-automatization process after the pandemic struck. Industries like healthcare, which is one of the top industries to thrive in 2020 and we will continue to see it into 2021 due to the pandemic, have seen unprecedented interest in improving and perfecting the use of wearable technology to self-monitor one’s health status. Likewise, another big industry like manufacturing has set its goals on remotely monitoring plant and off-site production performance, which will require immense investment in sensor data robots to measure all production lines remotely.
If you’re interested in knowing what industries will thrive during 2021**, technology and health care will stay at the top, and we might just have to be ready to see a big comeback of aviation/commercial air travel after a critical year for airline companies globally. Companies in all these verticals will need critical tech deployment, so this might be a good starting point where software developers can leverage your skills.
The old saying remains true, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” While the workplace needs to make some changes in response to the pandemic, it is only becoming more critical for experienced software developers and technologists to expand their horizons and invest themselves in technologies that will allow them to flourish in the tech space.
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