technologies.

The shift to remote work brought new challenges for companies in most industries, but it was certainly a boon for those in the cloud space. In fact, organizations have been making record-setting investments in cloud services, and that trend shows no signs of slowing down. The same is true for almost every role related to the cloud — like automation QA testing in the cloud, infosec analysts with experience securing a cloud environment, DevOps developers with experience in cloud environments and more. You can also see that reflected in the fact that there were more than 40,000 jobs posted for cloud engineers in the last 12 months alone. For employers looking to land these skilled professionals, meeting that compensation expectation is simply going to be table stakes.

Cloud engineers themselves, meanwhile, appear to have rapidly adjusted to our new normal, seamlessly transitioning from collocated work arrangements to distributed remote teams. For employers looking to hire these professionals, on the other hand, there will be considerable hurdles to overcome — and sourcing and attracting talent isn’t the only one. How will you effectively onboard remote employees into your organization, for example? That should be a focus area for HR teams going into 2021.

DevOps developers are masters of all things ASP.NET, Microsoft’s application framework that allows developers to create web applications and services. This framework is a key part of the value proposition for many advanced tech companies today, so it comes as no surprise that demand for these professionals is currently skyrocketing: There were nearly 50,000 jobs posted for DevOps developers in the last 12 months. For employers, meanwhile, the average time-to-fill for these roles is north of 50 days. 

That likely means many would-be employers today are instead suffering from key vacancies in their IT departments. Worse, with average annual salaries for DevOps developers at $137,830 — higher even than the average for cloud engineers — organizations should expect to spend considerable budget just to be in the running for skilled and experienced developers. It’s a pay-to-play hiring environment, and there’s simply no way around it.

Front-end developers are the visual artists of the web development world, translating UI/UX designs and wireframes into code that transforms websites into visually compelling experiences that are also easy to navigate. There's a lot riding on their shoulders, in other words, and the high number of job postings for these professionals — 36,306 in the last 12 months alone — clearly reflects that.

Plus, with 15 percent growth forecast over the next 10 years, employers eager to hire today's most gifted front-end developers will need to take an aggressive approach if they hope to deliver on their talent acquisition goals. Tactically, HR leaders should bear in mind that these candidates are often still early in their careers: the majority (59.9%) have between three and five years of experience in the field. Be sure to tailor your hiring strategies and prioritize the channels you invest in accordingly.

Slightly more specialized than DevOps or .NET developers, machine learning engineers are no less in demand, even if the number of job postings for these pros is dwarfed by the figures for those two other roles: 6,916 in the past 12 months (compared to 49,500 and 48,543, respectively). And with average annual salaries of $137,513, acquiring them can be an expensive proposition, too. 

In the context of COVID-19, here as elsewhere the most significant disruption in the hiring process may be a broad-based flattening of geographic distinctions. In the past, demand for machine learning experts had largely been restricted to tech-heavy hubs like San Francisco, New York City and Boston. With the arrival of remote work en masse, however, job openings are far more likely to draw candidates from a wider geographic radius. That’s certainly good news for companies — and just might make it easier to attract and hire these highly coveted pros in 2021.

There has been an alarming increase in the frequency and severity of cyber attacks since the onset of the global pandemic. At this point, the FBI is receiving as many as 4,000 complaints per day related to cyber attacks, which represents a 400 percent increase over pre-COVID-19 levels. With malicious actors apparently hungry to take advantage of newly decentralized workforces — and with the overall cost of a single data breach for U.S.-based companies estimated to be $8.19 million — it’s no wonder that security analysts are among the most sought-after tech professionals on the job market today. 

However, for employers looking to hire these security experts, it’s almost impossible to overstate the current level of demand: There were more than 166,000 jobs posted for security analysts in the last 12 months. And with 28 percent growth forecast for the next 10 years, that number will climb higher still. With such stiff competition — and such high stakes — employers should think seriously about their salary offerings for these vital security professionals. That may be the only way to get on the radar of the best candidates out there.