The Top 15 Information Technology Jobs In Q1, According To Dice

Here are the top fifteen tech job positions employers are seeking during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Dice’s new 2020 Tech Job Report.

What Tech Companies Are Looking To Hire

The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns are impacting the way employers conduct business and plan for the future across the country, according to Dice’s new 2020 Tech Job Report.

There are fifteen key technology positions where employers are actively posting job openings for people with the right IT skills, according to Dice’s new report which focuses on the impact of COVID-19 related to hiring in the technology sector. Colorado-based Dice, a leading database firm for IT employees, analyzed more than 6 million technology posting in the U.S. in the first four months of 2020 for its report.

Dice also provides data on the change in tech job postings from February to March, which is when state-wide lockdowns in America began to be enforced. Many employers are de-prioritizing new projects during the coronavirus pandemic to focus their efforts on their core product offerings and infrastructure maintenance.

Here are the top 15 tech occupations in terms of the number of job postings for the first quarter of 2020 as well as the percentage increase in postings for each position year over year.

15. DevOps Engineer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 39%

The rise in DevOps engineer job postings may be linked to businesses pivoting their strategy, sparking a need for professionals who can oversee and release new code to better address their customers’ fluctuating needs.

Deloitte, KPMG and Capital One were all looking to hire DevOps engineers at high volumes in March. Dice said over the coming months, more employers may have an increased need for these professionals who can operate cloud infrastructure to meet an increased demand and business need.

14. Cybersecurity Engineer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 7%

In a time of dispersed networks and workforces, cybercriminals have jumped at the opportunity stemming from COVID-19, and pandemic-themed phishing and cyber-attacks have already begun to proliferate, according to Dice. As a result, businesses have increased their cybersecurity engineer job postings significantly to combat these types of threats. From February to March, tech job posting for cybersecurity engineers rose a whopping 20 percent, the highest out of any other position on Dice’s list.

In March, businesses including Wells Fargo, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems topped the list of employers looking to hire the most cybersecurity engineers.

13. Graphic Designer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 19%

Graphic Designer job openings were hot early in 2020, up 19 percent year over year. However, from February to March – after the coronavirus forced a U.S. nationwide lockdown – job postings for graphic designers fell 17 percent. In terms of skillsets, employers are currently “very interested” in skills that contribute to the maintenance and shifting of a company’s technology infrastructure, according to Dice.

12. Systems Administrator

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 16%

When the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., from February to March, job postings seeking systems administrators jumped 7 percent, making it one of the top five most sought-after job openings in the tech market. Employers seeking database administrators also reached the top five in terms of tech openings posted from February to March, up 9 percent. A systems administrator in the U.S. pulled in an average salary of $83,000 in 2019, according to Dice’s 2020 Tech Salary Report.

11. Computer Programmer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 58%

The largest year over year increase in job postings on Dice’s 2020 Tech Job Report were employers seeking computer programmers, up a whopping 58 percent compared to the first quarter of 2019. Companies are putting an increased focused on maintaining their computer infrastructure amidst the uncertainties of the coronavirus pandemic and are willing to pay top dollar. A mainframe systems programmer, for example, pulls in an average salary of $103,000 in the U.S., according to Dice.

10. Business Analyst

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 24%

Business analysts cracked the top ten tech occupations by job postings in the first quarter of 2020, up 24 percent year over year. The average salary for a business analyst was approximately $92,500 in 2019, according to Dice. Key skills needed by business analyst that employers are looking for include data analysis and review, financial planning, and research. There was no change in the amount of job postings seeking business analysts from February to March.

9. Computer Support Specialist

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 27%

As companies put an increased focused on maintaining their computer infrastructure amidst the coronavirus pandemic, job openings seeking computer support specialists increased 27 percent year over year during the first quarter of 2020. However, in terms of tech support specialists job postings from February to March, application support engineers and technical support engineers increased while computer support specialists postings decreased.

8. Application Developer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 19%

Application developers have been highly sought after for years by various tech companies for the abilities to create apps for operating systems or devices like PCs and smart phones. Job postings during the first quarter of 2020 for applications developers jumped 19 percent year over year. Job postings from February to March for application developers also rose 2 percent, according to Dice.

7. IT Project Manager

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 28%

Project managers are some of the most vital technologists within a company, which is one reason why they pull down an average salary of more than $116,000 in 2019, according to Dice’s 2020 Tech Salary Report. With software development becoming more complicated, the need to manage projects at a granular level is increasingly important, powering project managers’ growth as a job category. As a result, the average time to fill project manager roles is roughly 38 days, according to Dice.

Employers who are hiring project managers at significant volume include Fiserv, IBM, Deloitte and Target.

6. Software QA Engineer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 26%

Quality assurance (QA) engineers ensure that standards are met at each step, no matter how fast and complicated the project. QA is so central to software building that it commands a salary of approximately $91,000 on average in 2019, according to Dice. Some of the top skills requested for QA engineers include Selenium, Java, SQL and Python. From February to March, job postings seeking software QA engineers rose 2 percent.

Top employers in the market for QA engineers include Apple and Amazon.

5. Java Developer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 52%

The defining skills for many employers seeking software developers (which appears later on this list) revolve around needing expertise in Java and JavaScript, with distinguishing skills including JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). Additionally, some of the top tech skills requested for software QA engineers from employers include Java programming, which is why job openings for Java developers was up 52 percent year over year. The average salary with someone who has Java Script skills is $100,000, while salaries for Java/J2EE skills exceed $114,000, according to Dice’s 2020 Tech Salary Report.

4. Senior Software Developer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 23%

Software developers are the most sought out employees in the tech world, according to Dice. Amazon, specifically, is looking to hire software developers in the wake of COVID-19 as consumers turn to the delivery and public cloud kingpin as an alternative to going to grocery and retail stories. Job postings for senior software developers was up 23 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2020. However, postings for the position dropped 11 percent from February to March as companies de-prioritize new projects.

3. Systems Engineer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 8%

Job postings for system engineers skyrocketed 11 percent between February and March, which suggests that companies are putting an increased focus on maintaining their network and computer infrastructure amidst the coronavirus, including the need for a dispersed workforce. Systems architect earnd the highest average salary in 2019 in terms of technology jobs, with the average system architect pulling in north of $138,000, up 8 percent year over year, according to Dice.

In March, SAIC, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman were all looking to hire systems engineers at the highest volume.

2. Network Engineer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 17%

Network engineers were the second most sought after employees in the first quarter of 2020, with job postings up 17 percent year over year. The position averaged a salary of approximately $90,000 in 2019, up 4 percent compared to 2018. However, from February to March, postings for network engineers was down 3 percent, according to Dice. Amazon is specifically looking to hire network engineers in the wake of COVID-19.

1. Software Developer

Q1 2020 Year Over Year Increase: 36%

The universal need to build software is why software developers accounted for 12 percent of all tech job postings in 2019, according to Dice. Such roles take an average of 39 days to fill, which hints at the aggressive fight among employers for candidates with the right mix of skills and experience. Software developers are some of the highest paid occupancies in the IT industry, averaging a salary of more than $114,000.

The top employers for software developer positions include tech titans such as IBM, Amazon and Accenture, but even small startups need developers skilled at front-end and back-end tasks. However, job posting for software developers from February to March dropped 8 percent, suggesting that employers are de-prioritizing new projects to focus their efforts on their core product offerings and infrastructure maintenance.