What Were the Top IT Jobs of 2021? - An End-of-Year Market Analysis

The IT market is changing and developing quite quickly, therefore, in order to be aware of all current updates, it is necessary to monitor the market situation on a regular basis. Nevertheless, sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of all the changes, so we at Lucky Hunter have made for you a list of the main trends in the IT industry at the end of 2021.

From this article, you will learn which IT professions are most in demand today, how much the average annual salary of these specialists is, as well as how the situation in the IT market has changed compared to the beginning of this year. 

IT Market Today

First of all, we should note that the IT market is still the only one about which we can say that it is the candidates' market and not employers'. This is due to an acute shortage of personnel, and, as a result, a huge demand for each specialist, especially for rare positions: for example, there are still very few Golang developers, as well as representatives of gamedev professions (we will tell you more about this later).

This situation leads to the fact that there is often a "struggle" between several recruitment agencies for one IT specialist, who is getting offers from a certain number of IT companies at once and choosing the one that is more appealing to him.

What new IT professions have appeared? 

In addition, due to the constant development of the IT industry, new, “young” professions also appear: for example, an ASO specialist. From the point of view of recruiting, there are two important moments at once: this, again, is a shortage of specialists in these fields, as well as their limited experience.

For example, when we searched for the ASO team lead for the client’s company, we faced the following problem: due to the fact that this profession is fairly new, many senior specialists simply have not had time to gain experience as a team leader yet.

So, which IT specialties are in demand at the end of 2021? 

Python, Java, JavaScript, C++, C#, Golang developers 

Such "classic" programming languages remain relevant due to their wide scope of application: Python is used even by such IT giants as Google or IBM, Java and C++ are also used for writing games.

The popularity and demand for Ruby developers is growing (for example, in the rating of popular programming languages TIOBE Ruby on Rails has risen from 15th to 13th place).

Average annual salary of a C++ developer: $118,475

Average annual salary of a Java developer: $100,291

(according to the statistics of the international job search portal Indeed)

Gamedev professions: Game designer, Game analyst, Narrative designer, 3D artist, Unity developer

The game industry is developing very quickly, more and more new games appear every day. To create and develop their products, game corporations need IT specialists of appropriate profiles. 

Mobile developers (Android and iOS) and UX/UI designers

Today, almost all companies are actively developing their presence in the digital environment and creating apps for more convenient and effective communication with customers and the development of their business.

The client in 2021 is particularly demanding: they want to get the information they are interested in or make a purchase as quickly and conveniently as possible, preferably from their smartphones. In this regard, the demand for Android and iOS developers is growing. 

The profession of a UX/UI designer also remains relevant — again, companies work with customer experience carefully and want their digital solutions to be really convenient to use. Therefore, it is vital that the apps do not only function well, but also have a competently designed interface which is user-friendly.

• The average annual salary of an Android developer: $118,393, 
• The average annual salary of an iOS developer: $116,279,
• The average annual salary of a UX/UI designer:  $90,109

Machine learning engineers

AI is now being included in a variety of fields, so employers want to see engineers in their machine learning teams. 

Who is the hardest to find? 

The answer "everyone” will be correct (we explained the reasons at the beginning of the article), but only partially — in fact, even in the IT market, in conditions of an already small number of candidates, there are some especially rare positions. Among them:

1. game designers;
2. game analysts;
3. Golang developers;
4. ASO specialists. 

We hope that our article was useful for you and will help you grasp the realities of the IT market today :) Moreover, we made a on this topic for you. Enjoy!