Software development is still one of the top skills employers in South Africa are looking for.

According to the December 2018 CareerJunction Index Report software developers remain highly sought after locally. The report indicates a 12 percent month-to-month increase in recruitment activity for software developers and more specifically professionals with C# and Java skills.

According to CareerJunction every third software developer vacancy requested a senior professional, with the sought after skills in development listed as C#, Java, JavaScript programming and .Net, with C# remaining popular.

A top job in demand during 2018 was that of UX design, with a significant rise in demand in the past 12-18 months. Users in this digital age are demanding useful, usable apps and sites that are easy and enjoyable to use, leading to the increase for UX designers to streamline this usability and experience for users. UX design is thriving, with the demand likely to remain high for many years.

Story from Independent Online. Story by Mel Muller.

In the 2018 PWC Global Economic Crime Survey, 77 percent of organizations in South Africa indicated that they were victims of economic crime while 29 percent said that they had been victims of cybercrime. The demand for professionals with network and information security skills has been on the rise due to organizations moving content and data onto digital platforms. The need to protect this content has become a top priority for employers, particularly in the face of increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals.

Other top ranking development skills in demand include web developers, mobile/android developers, Python and PHP developers with statistical analysis and data mining on the rise.

According to the 2018 Technology and IT Salary guide the most in demand jobs within the IT sector for the year ahead include Business Intelligence Analysts with experience in database technology, analytics and reporting tools, Data Scientists to gather and process data and make recommendations to business operations, as well as Database developers responsible for developing and managing enterprise databases. Systems administrators, network administrators and data security administrators will continue to be in high demand.

According to Careers24 the top 10 in demand IT skills are:

Statistical Analysis and Data Mining rank globally at two, and first in SA.

Java development ranks second in South Africa, however does not appear on the global top 10 list.

Network and information security is ranked third locally and sixth globally.

Mobile development is fourth locally.

Perl/Python and Ruby rank at five in SA and don’t feature on the global list.

User Interface design is in high demand in SA and globally, ranking sixth in South Africa.

Middleware and integration software ranks seventh in SA and fourth globally.

Web architecture and development framework rank globally in third place, however only eighth in South Africa.

Mac, Linux and Unix Systems is ninth in SA, and does not feature on the international list.

Read more at Independent Online.