Adam Baley
IT Recruitment Manager and Data/BI specialist
Mane IT services covers all aspects of IT recruitment, but a staple technology vertical that we have always focussed on for our clients, is Data.
I have been staffing Data Warehouse projects for global, national and regional companies for over 10 years, but with Big Data and Data Science fast approaching their respective ‘adolescent years’, we’re increasingly being asked to source Big Data and Data Science professionals across our client portfolio .
Big Data technology has gone form being a buzz word that everyone wanted to use, through being viewed as ‘maybe a bit overhyped’, to where it is now; Embedded and realised in most, if not all, small, medium and large scale enterprise organisations, globally.
Data Science is the real hot topic at the moment; Whereas 3-5 years ago most of the Data Scientists working in industry now, where completing their PhD’s, we are now seeing a more commercially minded candidate pool, with Data Scientists being asked to utilise technical skills they’ve picked up whilst working with development teams, especially scripting with Python, R and more often, SQL.
We’re currently working with a global travel management organisation in Canary Wharf, helping them to find experienced Data Scientists with good data hacking skills, Python (or R) scripting capabilities, to embed within their traditional development team and work alongside a host of Data Architects, Developers and senior stakeholders.
The growing IT skills gap and its implications for the global economy is a known issue throughout the industry. It’s the net result of an industry outpacing the supply of professionals needed to facilitate employer demand, effectively stifling growth.
Cyber security is an area within IT where the demand for professionals continues to grow. This is due to greater number and publicity of cyber-attacks on all businesses. If not addressed, implications could be serious with attacks likely to continue to grow in frequency and severity.
What’s the solution?
The first step to help close the cyber security skills gap, is for government and business leaders to realise the dangers that the skills gap presents. Thankfully, this is starting to happen. Back in November 2015 Chancellor George Osbourne announced that the UK government was planning to invest £1.9 billion into cyber security.
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