Beyond tech: The rising demand for IT skills in non-tech industries

Nine in 10 IT jobs are outside the traditional tech industry, according to new research by Oracle Academy and Burning Glass Technologies. Beyond Tech: The Rising Demand for IT Skills in Non-Tech Industries, is the third in a series of reports examining how the demand for computer science skills is spreading throughout the job market. Burning Glass Technologies analyzed its database of more than 1 billion current and historical job postings to identify the computer science skills employers demand in a wide range of occupations. Key findings from the report include: · IT jobs are large and growing — especially outside of the tech industry. In 2018 there were 6.9 million online IT job openings, accounting for 24% of all online job openings. The vast majority of openings, 89%, were in non-tech industries. Between 2013–2018, IT job growth in the tech sector was 40%; outside of tech, IT job growth jumped 65%. · IT jobs are in high demand across the non-tech sector. The professional services, manufacturing, and financial services industries are the largest in terms of absolute demand for IT jobs, accounting for about half of all IT openings in the non-tech sector. But many industries with the smallest absolute number of IT jobs actually have large proportions of IT job openings. The utilities industry, for example, accounts for 1% of all non-tech IT jobs, but IT jobs constitute 35% of all job openings in the industry. · IT jobs in non-tech industries are more accessible than in the tech sector, making them strong entry-points into careers in IT. In the tech sector, 89% of IT jobs require at least a bachelor’s degree, compared to 76% in non-tech industries. Similarly, there are also greater opportunities for entry-level workers to begin their IT careers outside of tech: 29% of openings in non-tech industries request two years of work experience or less, compared with only 16% in tech. · IT careers are highly lucrative across sectors. IT jobs both in and out of the tech sector pay substantially more than non-IT jobs, with salary premiums of $20,000 or more. The estimated lifetime earnings of IT workers, regardless of industry, greatly exceed those of non-IT workers or minimum-wage workers. On average, IT workers can make 19% more than non-IT workers, or $802,129 over the course of a career. That number soars to 600%, or $4,361,355, when measuring the lifetime earning difference between minimum-wage workers and IT workers. The report can be found at https://burning-glass.com/research-projects/beyond-tech.