The Ever-Changing IT Industry, What to Expect as a Newly Trained Programmer

IT industry is vigorous, fast pacing and ever-changing, with new innovations & upgrades cropping up every 5 minutes. In order to keep up with the industry’s dynamic nature, you need to embrace the change; it’s imperative you have experience with the latest technologies and you keep your training up to date.

Which IT Section Is Best For Me?

Today’s world is highly digitalized and the IT is present in virtually any domain you can think of, hence the possibilities for programmers are countless and once qualified you should be able to find employment in any field. Programmers usually find positions in the areas such as Project Management, Support, Development, Testing or Data Science.

As a programmer, you can work in web or game development, cybersecurity or computer forensics that is crucial in the detection and prevention of crime. You can be responsible for developing apps or systems, performing data analysis & analytics. You could also go in the direction of software engineering, designing, developing and testing various software. You could become a multimedia programmer that combines creative as well as technical skills, working with text, graphics & 2D/3D modelling.

If you wish to keep tabs on IT job markets’ trends and want to see how different positions change over time, check out the IT JobsWatch, it’ll give you an overview of the Year-on-Year salary change for specific positions within the industry.

Which Tech Companies Are Hiring Tech Talent?

I bet you already know which companies are the biggest players in the IT world. Have you been wondering which one would look better on your CV?

The main companies hiring Tech talent are Apple, Google (goes without saying ;), Cisco, Cognizant, Accenture, Capgemini, Fujitsu, IBM, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Softcat, Infosys, Rockstar Games and the list goes on. There are lots of smaller startups and medium-sized businesses that shouldn’t be overlooked either.

Before accepting any offer make sure to check the company’s profile on Glassdoor, find out as much as you can from previous employees, connecting with them on LinkedIn. The more you know about the company and the people that worked there, the better idea you have about the workplace before you make the decision to sign the contract.

Which Programming Language Should I Learn First? What’s the Industry Standard?

We can easily pull a list of top ten programming languages from last year’s Dice IT Job Market Report. SQL & HTML took the top spot with 16%, followed by C# , JavaScript , Java and C++. 4 lowest languages were Angular, Python, PHP and Android, all at 4%.

What’s interesting is that the top ten languages contractors want to improve are the following, Javascript, Swift, React and Python, all at 11%, followed by Node.js, Android, Angular, iOS, Ruby on Rails and PHP. This should give you a clear idea of what languages are the most in demand and where there might be knowledge gaps.

What Elements of My CV are the Most Important to the Prospective Employers in IT?

According to the Dice Report, Professional Experience takes the top spot (37%), followed by Previous companies 20% whereas CV presentation takes a whopping 13%.

Soft skills are at 9%, Education 8%, Cover letter 6%, Personal statement is at 3% & Interest and hobbies are only at 2%. Professional Experience is the most important, way before education. You need to invest in gaining as much practical experience as possible, this couldn’t be stressed enough.

What are the Hottest Programming Skills in Demand for 2018?

According to Forbes, experience with AI is the number one skill that programmers should be looking into as this field is greatly understaffed. AI is followed by the ability to develop augmented reality apps as more and more companies produce software that supports AR.

The popularity of AR grows together with machine learning that is gaining its momentum giving lots of options to data scientists that will become an integral part of the industry. Another skill that has been in high demand is mobile application development that requires the knowledge of Java, HTML5, Python, Swift, C++, C# and Objective-C. Following GDPR regulations, one other important skill is in the spotlight for 2018. We're talking about protecting data, hence those in cybersecurity are today’s hot shots with proficiency in AWS, Python, Spark, Hadoop, Cloudera, Tableau, Hive, Java & MongoDB.

Check out the full list of 13 Top Tech Skills in High Demand for 2018

Is Formal Qualification a Must-Have to Break into IT?

If you go on Google search, you will probably see that most employers favour those with Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Mathematics or Information Systems. However, 3 years ago Stack Overflow performed a survey with unexpected results indicating that half of the developers don’t have a degree! It means that you can be a programmer without a formal degree. Unlike in law and finance, there are no strict exams that need to be passed to become a developer. Some employers hire applicants straight after coding bootcamps and an internship experience. It boils down to what your skills are, what you can actually do with the code. You need to show passion for programming, technical know-how and the ability to learn complex issues with minimal supervision.

For those lacking in formal training, Kodilla offers online coding bootcamps that can be accessed from any part of the world. It’s an intensive course that is focused on hands-on practice, 1-1 support from highly skilled online mentors as well as building your online portfolio.

It is recommended that no matter what training you’ve accomplished if you’re serious about becoming a computer programmer, you should have at least one internship on your resume to show off your skills. Certificates for specific programming languages could also come in handy to stand out from the crowd and get ahead of the competition.

Many employers expect the applicants to be members of online communities like GitHub. It’s the largest platform for coders that can cooperate, building software together on a global scale. You can start by performing non-programming roles, like testing, writing tech documentation or checking bug reports. You can also try freelancing; even creating a really good responsive website for one of your mates could easily show your employer that your skills are up to par!

Demand for IT Workers Still on the Rise

The IT industry is fast-moving where demand continues to outstrip the supply. With numerous benefits like no fixed shifts, opportunities to live and work abroad as well as being self-employed, quite a few are considering a career change.

You don’t have to have a degree to break into the industry. The world of technology is changing in a blink of an eye so by the time someone finishes the degree it’s quite possible that the programming language has undergone a major change or has been taken out of the mainstream market altogether.

If you have a passion for coding and you’re willing to work hard, constantly training your mind by practising whenever you have free time, you know that programming is for you & the IT world will welcome you with open arms. You just need stamina and drive to become successful, we’re rooting for you :)