In-demand Technologies and Skills US Employers are Looking for

The pandemic has impacted every industry, making almost every business entirely digitized. Such a situation has brought great opportunities for developers. They are in great demand by many companies adapting to stay afloat by creating software, applications, and websites that will help them grow despite the lack of ability to work offline.

 

The demand for quality software developers causes US companies to experience a tech talent shortage, leading them to search for developers nearshore. A trend of nearshoring and offshoring software development makes it easier for tech talent to work for American companies from any country globally.

 

Although, merely having the desire to work for a US company is not enough. To join the list of in-demand tech talent, developers need to have the required skills that the companies look for. In this article, we will talk about the in-demand skills and roles popular among US employers.

 

IT Job Market Situation

Remote is the New Normal

Talking about the IT job market situation, many things have changed. Some of the significant changes took place in 2020 when the global pandemic began, which made many businesses go fully remote. Thus, nearshore software development has become a new normal.

Increased Demand for Cybersecurity Specialists

With an increase in digitalization, businesses had to worry about data cybersecurity. Unfortunately, the lack of experience in excellent data protection and cybersecurity specialists led to an increasing number of cyberattacks worldwide. It also led to an increased demand for cybersecurity specialists, who are among the top popular job positions among all tech roles.

Source: Digital information world

Developers’ Salaries Increase

Summing everything above, it is clear why the situation in the IT market has significantly changed and created a tremendous demand for tech specialists who can develop business solutions. This situation also led to more jobs becoming available for developers globally.

Before the pandemic, companies were used to having many candidates for one position, and they could choose among numerous skilled engineers. Looking at the Developer Shortage report, the situation has changed in the way that middle and senior engineers are in great demand and have a lot of job offers from different companies, which makes employers create better conditions to hire quality developers and offer competitive salaries. The statistics show how salaries of skilled developers have changed and whose average wage increased by almost 4.6% in 2021, which now is about $143,000 in the US.

Experiencing the software developer shortage, the US companies decide to make offers for developers from countries of Latin America where the average developer salary is much lower. The great difference in yearly salaries with almost no differences in skills level makes these destinations attractive for the US employers which are ready to offer higher salaries for good developers to equate their income to US developers.

US companies are open to hiring remotely, which gives a great opportunity for developers worldwide to work for US employers. However, it’s essential to understand which exact roles, skills, and technologies are in-demand and preferred soft skills. Let’s explore.

In-demand Technologies and Tech Skills

Let’s talk about the tech skills and technologies that will boost your chances of having a good job offer.

The table below shows that in two years top 3 programming languages (Python, Java, and JavaScript) are still the most popular. Although Python has decreasing trend - 1,5%, it is still a popular programming language and still in demand by many companies. Here is the list of the most popular and in-demand skills valuable for US companies.

Source: PYPL Popularity of Programming Language by GitHub

If talking about technologies that are popular among the developers and also are in-demand among the companies, we can point out the following:

Source: Developer Survey 2021 by Stack Overflow

This table shows that almost half of the tech specialists prefer Full-Stack development, Back-End, and a little less - Front-End development. Such statistics may result from the pandemic when nearly every company went online and needed to create applications, websites, and other kinds of software.

Source: HackerRank Developer Skills Report 2020

Talking about the most popular skills companies are looking for we can see that languages like JavaScript, Python, and Java are the most popular ones. If taking into account the most popular technologies among the companies, it is getting clear the top popular roles among the developers. The popularity of these three languages may depend on this statistic.

In addition, it is important to add some other tech skills which are in demand among employers. Among them are the following:

• Knowledge of data structure and algorithms. Knowing of data structure will help to organize the process of storing information into the database and with algorithms, you will be able to provide correct steps to complete the task.
  
  
• Knowledge of IDE. It is good for the developer to have advanced knowledge of one or several text editors.
  
  
• Testing. It is essential for the developer to know the basics of testing to provide a code of good quality without bugs and other issues.
  
  
• Operating systems. Having expertise in different types of systems will help better proceed with the process of transferring code between them.
  
  
• Project management methodologies. Knowing of some common methodologies such as Agile or Waterfall will be a good plus as many development teams use one of them in their development processes.

Moreover, employers look for software developers of the middle and senior level with years of experience and solid tech knowledge. Such developers are in demand as they have advanced tech skills and are also good at problem-solving, which is a must skill for an experienced developer and what is not usually available in junior developers. Therefore, depending on how experienced the developer is, the higher their salary will be.

In-demand Soft Skills

In-demand tech talent should not only have great tech skills, but employers pay attention to soft skills as well, especially when hiring remotely. Here we will discuss the most valuable soft skills developers should have.

• Communication. Communication is an essential soft skill for developers who work remotely. A developer working on the project always collaborates with the team as the end result greatly depends on the communication between team members. Knowing how to communicate with each other, accepting criticism, asking and discussing deadlines are those skills that have to be advanced in every remote developer.
  
  
• Creativity and problem-solving. These two skills are also crucial as they may show how skilled and experienced the developer is. Critical thinking helps a lot in stressful situations to come up with the best solutions, and creativity provides various ways to deal with the problem and build the best software solutions for businesses.
  
  
• Time management. If working remotely, it is crucial to advance time management skills. Remote work often allows having flexible working hours. However, specialists have to know how to set their working hours to meet the deadlines. If there are developers from different time zones, it is important to discuss working hours and set some joint time.
  
  
• Teamwork. If there is a need for collaboration between team members, listening to advice, criticisms, and understanding different views is crucial. The more people you have to collaborate in one team, the better results you may achieve and better solutions and ideas you can create together.
  
  
• Adaptability. The fast-growing changes in today’s world make developers adapt to be in demand. The technologies constantly change, and quality engineers have to continually improve their skills.
  
  
• English language. For developers from Latin America who want to work for US companies, it is essential to know English on a high level. Often, if the US company hires the developer directly without the third party (as a freelancer, an in-house employee, or with a staff augmentation model), the developer is required to know English at the C1 level to be able to freely communicate and write. If the company hires the developer through the outsourcing company, their level of English may be from B2 to understand and discuss the questions, but there is usually a manager who is fluent in English and can help both sides not to have communication issues.
  
  
• People skills. This skill means that the person should have a personal approach to other team members: knowledge of how they respond to different triggers, good treatment for high results, knowing your teammates’ strong sides and weaknesses will help a lot in leading a team. High employee engagement provides better productivity and profitability.

Summary

Summing up, it is clear to see how the IT market has changed and what new challenges and, conversely, the advantages (such as increasing the average salary and amount of job offers) have brought to developers. It has changed in some way the top tech skills and soft skills that are in demand now. These skills will surely help you get the desired job as a remote developer in a US company.