Defying recent trends, job seekers might be surprised to know that, despite leaving the 2016 year on uncertain and ambiguous term — the Canadian IT industry may be one of the few things left to be excited about in the new year.
Entrepreneurship seems to drive growth in Toronto’s IT industry more than it does other industries. In 2015, 23% of all IT jobs in Toronto were held by self-employed professionals. Given that the demand for qualified IT positions is expected to add 73,000 additional jobs over the next two years, Tech is a seller’s market for job-seeking IT professionals looking for a career amid accelerated growth.
With stronger prospects on the horizon, 2017 may at least be a year for IT professionals to look forward to in these 7 high demand positions.
1. Project Manager
Salary Range: $60,000 – $122,000
Top Employers: Financial Services, Public Services
Project Managers are often the odds that blend an excellent leader with a skilled technician. If you’ve ever considered getting PM certified, an extremely strong trend of upward growth in this position might sway you. Project Managers are often in demand in high-salaried positions, and coordinate with many divisions of a business (or all of it, in the case of smaller enterprises.)
2 . Web Developer
Salary Range: $38,000 – $77,000
Top Employers: Small Businesses, Marketing Firms, Finance
Web Development is a job that always remains in high demand, albeit with a wide range of positions and salaries. This range is in large part due to Web Developers being overwhelmingly more likely to be self-employed than other IT professions.
Web Development is a position cooperative with UX Design, and several skillsets in Web Development (.NET, jquery) are highly sought after skills in multiple senior IT positions, making this an excellent job to break into the industry, particularly for post-grads.
3. UX Designer
Salary Range: $72,000 – $102,000
Top Employers: ITCs, e-Commerce, Media Technology
Though something of a buzzword this last year, UX Designers are still critical parts of any consumer-oriented business. With environments from IBM to mobile games, there’s an excellent variety in company cultures, professional routes, and overall satisfaction in this job.
UX Designers command particular demand in Toronto’s rich media and commerce oriented markets. As media engagement and user accessibility continue to be part of ongoing monetization of tech, this upward trend is likely to continue.
4. Ruby on Rails Developer
Salary Range: $61,000 – $89,000
Top Employers: e-Commerce, Software Developers
While still comparatively a much smaller job market compared to the whole, Ruby has found itself a dedicated niche after high profile startups like Shopify began using them. Over the last five years, interest in this hybrid development framework is quite high in Toronto.
We touched on RoR in past posts, and it’s exciting to see that this position is healthy and expanding.
5. Data Science
Salary Range: $87,000 – $113,000
Top Employers: Finance, ITCs, Insurance
A position with a high degree of business acumen and great math skills might seem an odd man out to the traditional IT job market. Nonetheless, Toronto is Canada’s financial hub with 30% of all major financial services corporations headquartered here.
Data Science, as a market, is relatively safe and in growth within the Toronto market, though it does require a far more stringent proof of qualifications than many comparable positions of comparable salary.
6. Database Administration
Salary Range: $71,000 – $128,000
Top Employers: Public Services, Government Services, Finance
A senior position requiring both a strong fluency in Database systems (SQL, PL/SQL, Unix) and management skills for broad-scale projects, Database Administration is a position that commands both a high salary range and excellent career prospects, regardless of employer.
Primary growth in this position can be attributed to both a strong growth in financial services, and ongoing needs of large data-focused public service sectors such as in health care and social services.
7. DevOps Engineer
Salary Range: $65,000 – $95,000
Top Employers: Data Services, Finance, Software Development
Like Project Management, DevOps occupies a relatively essential but overlooked niche within software development, particularly for middle-sized startups looking to streamline their process. DevOps is quickly becoming an industry standard software admin position, one that may cater for those who like big-picture decision making over the minutiae of day-to-day programming. A background in programming, however, is a huge asset for applicants.