Demand is exploding for technology professionals with innovative, advanced expertise in leveraging the power of Big Data to cut costs, increase efficiencies and gain competitive advantage. However, One survey of business executives found 55% say their companies’ digital transformation efforts aren’t keeping up with business demands. Integrating new technologies and legacy systems was cited as a major challenge, and one-third said they lacked the IT talent to do the job.
The “talent arms race,” CIO magazine notes, is among IT leaders’ most significant challenges. The demand for data professionals far exceeds the supply, setting off salary wars that entice employees to job-hop in search of more money and companies with remote work opportunities.
“Attracting, engaging, and retaining talent to fuel growth will continue to be challenging in the next year,” according to the magazine.
Technology professionals eager to enter the competitive market for top talent find a Master of Science (M.S.) in Information Technology provides the theoretical background and practical experience needed for highly sought senior roles in data transformation.
What Are the Top Careers in IT?
Business leaders’ top IT priorities include integrating technology, data management and usability and technology efficiency. Those mandatories make these a few of the hot jobs in coming years:
Data Analysts
Murray State University’s M.S. in Information Science explores techniques and practices of statistical data analyses that are make-or-break business requirements. The skills graduates acquire through those studies prepare them for roles in predictive modeling and algorithmic development for machine learning. Data analysts are at the center of producing business-critical insights into customer behavior, market trends and operational performance in sectors including finance, healthcare and e-commerce.
“Companies are struggling to find and retain data analytics talent, and the picture is starting to look even bleaker,” Business.com notes.
Business Intelligence Engineers
BI engineering is an evolving discipline growing out of businesses’ reliance on Big Data to make decisions faster with greater degrees of certainty. As artificial intelligence and machine learning are transforming data-driven decision-making, business engineers’ responsibilities range from integrating data query, visualization, reporting and modeling tools to collaborating with stakeholders on analytics requirements, database support and warehousing management.
“There is a severe shortage of BI-based data professionals — with a shortfall of 1.5 million in the USA alone,” according to the data visualization consultant, DataPine.
Expertise with database technology, such as Structured Query Language (SQL) queries to extract data and transform and load it into warehouses (ETL) program is an essential BI engineering skill. The M.S. in Information Science online program offered by Murray State University hones students’ data management skills through its accredited curriculum.
IT Product Manager
An IT product manager is a distinct role from an IT project manager. Product managers focus on the development of technology products and services. A project manager, on the other hand, coordinates and oversees goal-oriented tasks related to technical processes and outcomes. As the point person for managing diverse teams and external and cross-team internal customers, product managers must have a comprehensive skill set. In addition to technical expertise, employers value product managers who have well-developed soft, or people, skills, including “a keen sense of how to navigate both internal and external hurdles to ship a great product,” Harvard Business Review notes.
Because the role involves cross-team management, product managers with strong interpersonal skills excel. The Murray State M.S. in Information Science course called Seminar in Organizational Behavior explores individual, group and organizational processes with a particular emphasis on managing non-U.S. employees, vendors and consultants.
Software Engineer
Software engineering is another related-but-different technology profession. Software developers and engineers often use the same tools. Developers, however, write code, while engineers use logic-based and process-oriented principles to guide the creation of applications. Engineers also are responsible for program testing and design compliance and integrity.
“The industry’s best software engineers are mapping out the future of ecommerce,” according to CIO Review.
How an Advanced Degree Benefits You
Participants in Murray State’s program explore managerial issues in software life-cycle models, object-oriented and rapid-development methodologies, agile modeling, software design principles and methods and verification and testing methods.
Graduates will have the well-rounded, in-depth knowledge to pursue any number of jobs in the information science space.
Learn more about the Murray State University’s online M.S. in Information Science program.
