In modern days, technology is becoming more and more prevalent in our daily needs. When we look back at the technological changes and advancements that have taken place over the last few decades, we can notice that the world has come a long way. Through automation tasks that took hours or even days, now require minimum or very little efforts if the right procedures are put in place. Hence, many companies are leveraging to new technologies to ensure their workforce remains competitive.
The future of job market is certainly technology driven and UAE is pursuing an active role in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. With UAE government initiatives on cutting edge technology like the Artificial Intelligence, smart cities and multiple proof of concepts in the blockchain space. Despite these developments, there is observed skills gap and lack of tech talent in MENA region. This accentuates need for up-skilling and re-skilling workers in jobs affected by technology industry demands.
Strong demand is predicted for many IT occupations in 2020- 2022:
Demand for tech talent during pandemic has increased exponentially in UAE, with industries seeking IT talent across various industries such as Healthcare & pharma, Logistics/ Ecommerce & supply chain and Banking &Insurance.
Tech skills will continue to dominate the jobs of tomorrow. Cloud, Engineering and data clusters are among the fastest-growing functions that require skills such as:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Chatbot & Data Science
- Automation/Transformation
- Blockchain and Robotics
- Infra / Cloud Computing
- Cybersecurity
- DevOps & Cloud Engineers
- Big Data
- Business Intelligence & Data Analytics
- SAP
- Mobility
World Economic Forum 2018 Future of Jobs Report (Source link)
Taking the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Future of Jobs Report figure of 133 million new jobs over the 2018–2022 period as the baseline, and using the aggregate figure for number of opportunities per 10,000 new opportunities, the emerging professions of the future analysed in this report will account for 6.1 million opportunities globally over the course of 2020–2022. According to these assumptions, if current growth trends hold, these emerging professions will provide 1.7 million new jobs in 2020—and that figure will see a significant increase of 51% to 2.4 million opportunities by 2022. The professionals that exhibit the highest growth rates are the Data and AI, Green Economy, and Engineering and Cloud Computing professional clusters, with annual growth rates of 41%, 35% and 34%, respectively.
In the Data Science and AI cluster, the role of Artificial Intelligence Specialist is the fastest-growing new economy role; however, the absolute number of opportunities for this profession is relatively low. On the other hand, Data Scientist positions have slower annual growth rates but form the third-largest opportunity among the set of growing professions. In Sales, Marketing and Content, the critical new opportunities include Digital Marketing Specialists, Content Specialists and Customer Success Specialists. In Engineering and Cloud Computing, they include DevOps Engineers and Full Stack Engineers.
Top IT jobs in demand in UAE
- Software engineering (Mobile Developers, DevOps, Full stack developer)
- Cloud Infrastructure and Cyber Security
- Business Intelligence and data analytics
- Digital product development and management – user interface and user experience (UI/UX) and product managers
Headhunting IT talent in UAE
With current COVID-19 situation, most of the companies are relying on tech talent available in the region due to travel constraints. Adecco’s expert team of IT consultants headhunt tech talent from local and global candidate pool of IT professionals from across 60+ countries. Recruitment and staffing of IT talent is also done via job portals, social media, references, virtual career fairs and Adecco employee networks.
Top 5 qualities for an IT candidate to succeed during an interview
- Communication on what they know and what they will have to learn
- Positive attitude in these tough situations
- Intelligence & flexibility to adapt in different circumstances
- Creativity, Integrity & dependability
This article is featured by Rohit Kanwar, Technology Staffing Practice at Adecco Middle East
Rohit is a distinguished hunter and a business sales consultant in IT/Technology. With 11+ years of experience in technology staffing and recruitment, he has proven track record of consistent achievements in driving innovative & cost-effective sales strategies, programs and initiatives that produce dynamic business results.
Information Source: Gulf News; Khaleej Times; CIO Middle East, World Economic Forum