And now we decided to make the top specialties that will be especially relevant in 2021. The list is based on the growth of salaries in the global market, the demand for specialists in the industry and the dynamics of the profession as a whole. And let’s say right away that the list only includes 10 professions. This does not mean that other professions are worse – just that they are growing a little slower. So, let’s go!

Data Analyst

Average salary per year:

Here and below are January 2021 salary statistics provided by Glassdoor.

A Data Analyst solves specific business issues with analytics.

Compared to Data Science, which we’ll talk about next, Data Analysts have a smaller salary. But a Data Analyst has a much lower entry threshold into the profession. Here you do not need to have a deep knowledge of mathematics, statistics, and probability theory – you just need to be proficient with the tools of an analyst.

The spread of salaries in the market is largely due to the fact that data analysts are in demand and in companies that are not in principle associated with IT and digital. On average, there are 2.5-3 times more DA jobs than DS. At the same time Senior DA can easily earn $100,000-120,000 per year. It all depends on the skill pool.

BLS predicts that the entire DA field will grow by 18% per year over the next 10 years.

It’s also interesting that Data Analyst is considered an excellent springboard for further growth. After all, from DA you can develop into Data Science, ML Engineering, Product Analyst, and Business Analyst. Even as a Full Stack Developer. There are very many options.

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Web Developer

For more than 15 years Web Developer is on the top of the most demanded professions in the IT sphere.

This profession has rather low entrance threshold – it is enough to know HTML/CSS on the average level to create simple but functional web pages. That is why there are so many newcomers.

But at the same time the market is very short of high level specialists who have a good command not only of HTML/CSS, but also of JavaScript with frameworks AngularJS, ReactJS, VueJS.

Interestingly, web developer is one of the top 25 professions with the highest level of professional satisfaction. Among the main reasons why frontenders like their work, they name a good working environment, almost guaranteed personal and professional development. And the stable growth of the market guarantees the demand for web developers.

A huge advantage of the profession is that it is fully suitable for remote work and freelancers. According to Glassdoor, the average freelance web developer’s salary is even higher than that of professionals who work full-time in an office.

Information Security Analyst

Interestingly, many companies don’t disclose the salaries of their information security professionals, so data varies from source to source. Careercarma, for example, claims that the average salary in the field exceeds $100,000, and a Senior Specialist earns from $115,000.

This profession is complicated and requires a lot of specific knowledge, but the market is experiencing a huge shortage of specialists, so many even the largest companies do not require a university degree, and quite calmly take specialists after the bootcamps. Among them are Google, Amazon, Oracle, Cisco, Facebook, and Microsoft.

This specialty is especially relevant for companies with large financial assets and operating with a large amount of personal user data (banks, large food corporations, information projects like social networks and video services). ISAs are needed, among other things, for government defense projects. BLS predicts a 31% increase in demand for security specialists per year.

It should be noted that there is a growing need not only for information security engineers, but also for pentesters, who check the strength of created systems and find vulnerabilities in them.

Experienced information security specialists with LPT Master status or similar are literally worth their weight in gold these days.

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Python Developer

Python is considered one of the fastest growing programming languages today. According to the PYPL ranking, it ranks first in terms of learning momentum (30.44%) with a significant lead over Java, which is in second place (16.67%).

A study by StackOverflow puts Python in 4th place among the most used languages in 2020. And it also points out that Python programmers at the Middle level and above are the most lacking in the market.

The highest developer salaries are paid in Python in the United States. Even Junior can expect to be compensated $90,000 per year there. And Middle gets $110,000 without much trouble.

What’s interesting is that Python developer salaries are steadily increasing. In 2019-2020, it went up 15% on average, and the momentum continues.

The reason is simple. Python is now steadily picking up the data analytics field, and is also widely used in web applications and web services, artificial intelligence algorithm development, and process automation. That said, it has a low entry threshold because of the simplicity of its syntax and sugar in it.

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Database Administrator.

DBA is one of the key positions in large companies. When the knowledge of system administrators and developers on the DBMS used is no longer enough to guarantee that the database runs smoothly and correctly, but it is important for business, then the company hires a DBA.

A database administrator is already an experienced specialist who knows one or more DBMS almost perfectly.

Most often, a DBA is a specialist with impressive experience in development or administration. It is very difficult to become a DB administrator at once, so the growth of specialists on the market is very slow. At the same time every year the market grows by 10 %.

Most of all DBAs are in demand in e-commerce, which deals with big data.

It is also interesting that in spite of the high technical requirements of the specialty and stress, DBA specialists are satisfied with their work and tasks – the satisfaction index is 3.8 points out of 5.

Web designer (UI/UX)

Web designers have always been popular, but in the last 5 years the number of specialists who work not only with the picture, but also with the user experience has increased significantly.

An intuitive interface is the basis of any web project. The user must understand how to work with the site or mobile application without unnecessary cues.

On average a UX-designer receives 30-40% more than a web graphic designer. But the requirements for him are higher. In addition to a confident command of Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as skills in working with Omnigraffle, InVision, Axure and/or Balsamiq the UX-designer should have a confident knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

If the designer “makes it look good,” the UX-designer must improve the appearance and functionality of the project to be effective. This is not so much a design problem, but rather a question of intelligent design. Therefore, A/B-testing and work with analytics take up most of the specialist’s time.

And the most interesting thing is that there is practically no salary threshold. The top industry specialists get up to $25,000 per month.

Mobile App Developer

For the first time in 2020, the amount of shopping with mobile devices will exceed the amount of shopping with computers. Statista predicts that in 2021, the total number of purchases from cell phones will account for 53.9% of all online purchases.

The field of mobile development is still relevant and growing steadily, so specialists are needed all the time. In this case, somehow divide the developers on iOS and Android is not necessary. Although the pool of tasks, requirements and tools are different, they work in the same market. In most cases, app development in e-commerce is conducted on iOS and Android simultaneously.

NewZoo also notes significant growth in mobile gaming. In 2020, the market grew by 13.3% and now amounts to $77.2 billion. And the growth dynamics will continue for at least the next 5 years. It is expected that in 2021 more than a third of the global population (2.5 billion people) will be playing mobile games.

At the same time mobile games already account for more than half of the total gaming market. The development of projects for PCs and consoles usually costs orders of magnitude more, but at the same time there are significantly fewer of them than games for cell phones.

So the value of developers for iOS and Android will only grow over time. Moreover, the choice of areas for specialists is very wide: from serious projects in e-commerce to the development of mobile games and applications.