Cybersecurity, AI Skills to Dominate IT Staff Hires in 2019

The company said Wednesday that large, enterprise firms were most likely to focus on cybersecurity and AI. Small and midsize firms are more likely to prioritize DevOps skills, experience with end-user hardware and IT infrastructure proficiency.

• By Jessica Davis
• Nov 09, 2018

A new survey conducted by Spiceworks suggests that skills in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) will dominate IT hires in 2019.

According to Spiceworks’ 2019 State of IT Careers report, one in three organizations throughout the United States and Europe plan to hire new staff in 2019. Many of the new positions will be focused on cybersecurity, but other in-demand skills include AI proficiency, infrastructure hardware, end-user hardware, networking solutions and software deployment.

The company said Wednesday that large, enterprise firms were most likely to focus on cybersecurity and AI. Small and midsize firms are more likely to prioritize DevOps skills, experience with end-user hardware and IT infrastructure proficiency.

Spiceworks’ report includes responses from 1,000 IT professionals. When asked about their own career path, 26 percent of respondents said they planned to find a new role, either percent planned to leave the field entirely, six percent hoped to transition into IT consultant roles and five percent were on their way to retiring.

"Overall, the job outlook looks promising for IT professionals in 2019," said Peter Tsai, senior technology analyst at Spiceworks. "As a result, many tech professionals are polishing up their resumes in hopes of landing a position that offers a more competitive salary or an opportunity to advance their skills. At the same time, many organizations -- particularly large enterprises -- are eager to find employees with specialized expertise in cybersecurity, AI, and DevOps, so workers with those skill sets will be in high demand."