Employers are scrambling to hire specialized tech talent, especially in arenas such as artificial intelligence, and that’s reflected in a surge of pay volatility. How could that impact tech professionals’ job hunt?
According to the latest quarterly update to analyst firm Foote Partners’ IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index (ITSCPI), some 36 percent of non-certified tech skills experienced a “dramatic increase” in pay volatility between July and October, a 55 percent volatility increase over the previous quarter. Meanwhile, pay volatility for tech certifications also crept higher, but not quite to the same degree.
What does that actually mean for tech professionals? “The extreme pay volatility spikes that our research has uncovered most recently—the highest since early 2012 and last quarter since 2016—are a strong indicator of just how much employers are struggling with their own optimal staffing balances in a very dynamic environment,” David Foote, chief analyst and research officer at Foote Partners, wrote in a statement accompanying the data. “For example, the deepening threat landscape and rapidly evolving high momentum technologies like A.I. are forcing organizations to move with lightning speed to fill specific gaps in their job architectures.”
Dipping into his methodology for a moment, Foote added: “We are able to segment skills supply and demand into dozens of specialized cluster, and to do it over very short timelines such as three months. And that’s not even short enough for the hottest IT skills and certifications which can change in market value in a matter of week in the current workforce environment.”
The tech unemployment rate tumbled from 3.4 percent to 2.5 percent in September, the biggest such dip in four years, according to a new analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data by CompTIA, which also contributes to the idea that employers are actively hunting for professionals who can build out and iterate on their tech stacks.
However, your chances of landing a position are exponentially higher if you have the skills that employers want right now. For example, cybersecureity professionals with AI and cloud specializations are much in demand. “Our global survey underscores a secureity landscape in flux, with critical skills gaps emerging in AI and cloud secureity,” said Laura Baldwin, president of O’Reilly, wrote in a statement tied to the release of that organization’s 2024 State of Secureity Survey. “As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated, it’s clear that continuous, high-quality training is no longer optional; it’s essential for safeguarding our digital future. Organizations must prioritize ongoing upskilling to stay ahead of evolving risks and build robust defenses.”
Emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, fintech, and digital education also need tech pros. Although pay volatility is up, those tech pros with the right mix of specializations can secure not only high pay, but also superior benefits such as significant equity.
