What are the latest IT jobs, the future IT jobs and the ones that are dead & gone?

A lot of people get freaked out about the robots taking our jobs but the reality is that these current IT jobs never even existed 10 years ago:

Data Scientist

Big Data Engineer

Analytics Engineer

Digital Marketer

Social Media Consultant

SEO Specialist

Blogger

DevOps Engineer

Cloud (Azure or AWS) SysAdmin

Test Automation Engineer

Cloud Architect

BI Architect 

UX Designer

UI Applications Developer (React or Angular)

Mobile Apps Developer (iOS or Android) and so on…..

The reality is that these IT roles are just extensions of similar roles using newer technologies and new platforms as technology is further derived or matures.

Were you a Web Master or maybe a Web Mistress?

Some jobs have even come and gone...like video store or record shop assistant...internet cafe manager (about to disappear)...But really the ones that are truly dead & gone are computer programming jobs with punch cards in the early IBM & Burroughs days….Switchboard, Telegraph & Dictaphone operators…word processors / typists, filing clerks, business machine operators (i.e. photocopiers) hahaha yes this made me laugh - you actually had someone in a corporate office to ‘operate’ the photocopier, although let’s face it that paper was always hard to find and when that bleedin’ photocopier started spraying out reams of paper Noooooooo…and as for fax machines don't get me started...computer operators…the list goes on…

Roles for the next 10 years are already starting to appear:

AI (Artificial Intelligence) / Machine Learning Engineers 

Algorithm Engineers

Web Scientist (there’s a new degree in the UK in Web Science)

WebOps

Blockchain Developer

Drone Operator

Uber driver

Marijuana Farmer (not new but now legal in Colorado & other states in the US)

Grocery Personal Shopper (the way your internet order actually gets picked is by someone in the supermarket pushing around a trolley collecting your items) until robots get smarter…..

AI is rapidly expanding and will majorly impact our lives but that's another story.....

The new roles are already coming apparent but really what it really boils down to is CODING SKILLS & the ability to PROBLEM SOLVE. Employers are always lookIng for strong technical skills and the ability to communicate within technical discussions. In saying that some languages like C++ that were predicted to be gone by now, have not due to their fast performance abilities in gaming, hardware & development & High Performance Computing they live on. There’s always legacy issues that have even seen Cobol programmers still in demand by many of the large banks & insurance companies. 

It’s exciting times within the IT industry but it always pays to keep your skills current and continue to enjoy learning new ways of improving efficiency & performance with new technology, platforms, frameworks & tooling. Being a continuous ‘LIFE LEARNER’ will always hold you in good stead and ensure a long & fulfilling career in IT.

I'm Founder & Principal Consultant of Sunstone, an IT Recruitment & HR company specialising in recruiting IT roles within software, web, mobile, development & networks in Christchurch & South Island of New Zealand.