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WiTH Webinar: Security, Data Among Tech Skillsets in Heaviest Demand

Security and data are among the technology skillsets that are in heaviest demand today in the information technology (IT) and media and entertainment sectors, according to industry experts.

“Number one is definitely security and anything kind of associated with that,” Nicole Ortiz, VP of sales and recruiting at Irvine Technology Corporation, said Jan. 8 during the latest WiTH Connection Corner webinar, “Technology Skills in Demand for 2021,” presented by Women in Technology Hollywood (WiTH).

The webinar looked at not only the skills needed for the biggest in-demand jobs of the year, but also what certifications may prove crucial to those roles, the resources WiTH members can tap into to start developing new skills, and what may be preventing women from applying for some of these open positions.

There is a “huge demand for security engineers — for cybersecurity engineers,” said Ortiz, who has more than 15 years of experience as an IT staffing executive. “Kind of 1B for me — like the next one in demand — would then be cloud” skills because, “in pretty much almost all the roles we see, there’s some element of cloud being requested,” she told viewers.

“Next would be data,” she pointed out, noting companies are increasingly using business intelligence (BI) and artificial intelligence (AI). There is a “huge amount of data that companies are dealing with today,” and it is being used to make decisions and to get more information, she noted.

“Security was already in high demand and then, once COVID hit, we’ve only seen that accelerated as the majority of companies’ workforces, of course, have gone remote and offsite,” she said.

“After that, I would say, would be developers,” she said, noting there is “still a huge push for full-stack developers, especially with .DOTNET, ASP.NET” and also “with the cloud, agile methodologies, and then next would probably be project managers.”

Pointing to data that underscores the huge demand for people to fill many jobs in these areas, she said there were 60 candidates for cybersecurity analysts, security architects, cybersecurity engineers and information analysts in the last six months and 1,384 jobs posted, not including jobs posted by staffing firms.

Similarly, there were 100 candidates for data scientist vs. about 1,600 jobs; about 720 candidates for .NET developers vs. about 3,500 postings in the last six months; about 428 candidates for project managers, specifically IT, vs. 5,000 jobs; and 277 candidates for business intelligence (BI) candidates vs. about 2,200 jobs, she said.

Although U.S. unemployment has gone up, “there is still a pretty critical talent shortage when it comes to IT and specifically these categories,” she noted.

‘Rapidly colliding’ worlds

“These worlds are rapidly colliding,” according to John Canning, executive producer of New Media & Experiential at Digital Domain and an expert on digital media and interactive experiences. “My world also touches on the gaming” arena, he pointed out, noting: “Traditional production in media and entertainment is now blurring the lines with gaming.”

Meanwhile, “producers are having to wrap their heads around” the importance of security matters in the M&E space, he said. Producers look at the line items in a budget and try to figure out what they can cut, and “security is not one of those things they can” cut, he told viewers.

Security is playing a “critical role” — especially when we talk about the cloud and “we are doing more and more productions that are distributed, we’re interconnecting our offices, we’re interconnecting our people, we’re using services that are in the cloud,” he explained.

And there are several challenges, he noted: “How do we secure all of these new kinds of services that we are starting to use? How do we get data in [and] data out? How do you manage the IT infrastructure of a production that is potentially as sophisticated as an office place for securing data, securing individuals on that production? It gets even wackier when instead of dealing with employees, you’re dealing with a bunch of independent contractors. And what are the rules around peoples’ personal technology?”

Everybody now has an HD camera that can be “instantly connected to the universe,” which makes security for M&E organizations and productions even more complicated, he said.
Meanwhile, around gaming and traditional media production, there is “demand for real-time expertise” now as the number of virtual productions grow, he said, explaining: “Skill sets that would be potentially coming out of the gaming industry are now bleeding into what we would be doing for an episodic production.”

There is also growing demand for AI and machine learning (ML) skills, he said, noting a lot of process can be sped up with ML. “I just see this happening across the board and what’s tough for the media and entertainment industry is we’re competing against other businesses for those same type of skillsets,” he pointed out.

In the M&E sector, jobs are typically as independent contractors, but now M&E is touching industries that are used to having staff positions and that is impacting what employees expect, he noted.

Advice for job seekers

When looking for a job in these sectors, referrals can help you get past tough resume filters, Canning told viewers.

Certification and experience are both important also, he said, noting engineers have certification, for example, and that means something significant. Everybody should also be willing to learn new things and adopt new tools, he said.

Intern experience is very valuable also, he went on to say, noting: “You can rack up three years of experience doing internships.”

Job seekers should also avoid just going for the big paycheck with a job they may not be suited for, he stressed.

Ortiz agreed with him. She has also seen companies of late be flexible with experience requirements, especially as it applies to the desire for diversity on their staffs, she said.
From personal experience, she noted that a cousin of hers was in law school studying music industry copyright, wanted to make a change and was thinking about IT and asked if she should enter a bootcamp learning program for that. Ortiz suggested she do that, she did, and, “in no time, she was picked up by a startup, worked there for less than year and then [was] just recently hired by iHeartRadio making almost six figures – and with hardly any experience,” she said.

“So it wasn’t a huge barrier to entry for her and I think it just goes to show, with the shortage of talent, a lot of companies are looking for sharp individuals that get the principles of things, that are looking forward and looking at the new technologies and have some experience that they can then train on the specific areas that they need,” she said. But “you’ve got to have some baseline knowledge,” she added.

Studies have shown that for a woman to apply for a job, they must feel they are a 100% match for everything the company says it’s looking for in a job listing, while men feel they only need to match it about 60% before applying for a job, she went on to say. Companies are including their entire wish lists. As a result, women are applying to fewer jobs — but when they apply, they are 16-18% more likely to get the job, she noted.

One other reason why women should apply for a job that she may not be 100% qualified for: There could be other jobs at a company not listed that would be a better fit, Ortiz said.

Summing up

Summing up the webinar’s main points, moderator Nina Skorus-Neely, secretary of the WiTH Foundation, said: “Certifications, particularly on the security and the agile side, are going to be important, but there are many ways that you can demonstrate your skills and build your expertise.”

Also: “The pace of technology change is accelerating but demonstrating the initiative to invest in yourself and to continue to skill up will make you attractive in the marketplace,” she said, adding: “The tools will change over time, so start with the fundamental principles and then skill up on the tools that apply those principles to your every day job.”

To view the webinar, click here.