The 10 Fastest-Growing Job Titles Are All in Tech
A study by job-matching service TheLadders revealed that the fastest-growing jobs shy away from management, and instead require deep educational qualifications and specific skills in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Of the fastest growing job titles over the last five years, seven of the top 10 are technology positions that necessitate specific technical skills for developing software and mining data. Based on their data, the fastest-growing job titles between 2008 and 2013 were:
- DevOps engineer
- iOS developer
- Data scientist
- UX designer
- Staff accountant
- Paralegal
- UI developer
- Administrative assistant
- Android developer
- Business intelligence developer
Indicating a trend beyond employment, four of the seven fastest-growing technology jobs — DevOps engineer, iOS developer, data scientist and Android developer — did not even exist on TheLadders five years ago.
"In examining job growth over the past five years, there is an undeniable demand for developers and analysts who possess unique expertise within the burgeoning STEM industries," said Shankar Mishra, vice president of data science and analytics for TheLadders. "On the opposite end of the spectrum, once-coveted management jobs are rapidly declining, revealing a trend that high-earning professionals are not necessarily on a management track, nor do they desire to be."
The study found that the growth rate of job titles containing the word "manager" is 25% lower than average growth rate, and the rate of titles containing the word "director" is 50% lower. In addition, within the top 10% of growing jobs, less than 2% of titles contain the word "manager" or "director."
The research was based on the examination of key words and phrases that job seekers use to search for jobs, along with employers' word choices for job postings on TheLadders.
