The world is in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution and the pace of change is exponential. This pace of change coupled with the digital economy is fundamentally changing business models: Data is the new currency. This change is increasing the need for tech talent, beyond the traditional tech companies. For instance, 25 percent of Goldman Sachs’ employees are engineers.
Tech jobs are some of the fastest growing in the United States. Computer systems design (aka tech) was the fastest growing industry in 2016, with an average sales growth rate of 18 percent, compared to 6.8 percent for all other industries. In fact, software developers were the fifth-fastest growth job in 2016, adding 130,000 new jobs for a total of 1.5MM. As well, two of the top 10 fastest growing professions between 2014 and 2024 are in tech: software developers and computer systems design and the top three hard skills noted by LinkedIn are all tech skills. This increased demand has led unemployment in tech to fall to 2 percent.