16 IT Skills in High Demand in 2013

That resolution to update your tech toolbox may seem like a distant memory, but now more than ever you need to work to increase your professional value.

One way to increase your brand to employers is to learn new skills, but choosing the ones that offer the most bang for the buck is challenging. To help you better understand the market, CIO.com spoke with David Foote, CEO at Foote Partners and other industry professionals to identify what IT skills are experiencing the most growth and what those skills are worth.

This data is based on statistical analysis that looks at the demand for more than 629 skills both certified and noncertified and what is being paid for those skills over and above base salary.

People who use this skill in their daily workflow take company objectives and develop analytic models, assessments and solutions. They work across all areas of the business, from Web developers to accounting, to database teams. These individuals normally have an advanced degree. The adoption of big data and the evolution of the data scientist are driving demand for this skill upward.

“Companies have been hiring PhDs to do quantitative analysis and regression analysis for years, but now it’s become the province of data scientists, where a lot of the work being done in analytics starts with quantitative analysis skills,” says Foote.

Quantitative analysis has seen 18.2 percent growth in market value over the last 3 months.

Salary Range: $74,000-$117,000

Big data is big business and companies are looking more closely at how to interpret the many disparate sources of data they have. That’s where BI skills come in.

“This is still an immature area for a lot of companies. Businesses are starting to understand that they have a lot of data internally that can help them with market trends, where and how they can make forecasts with their sales and marketing, as well as help the executive team make decisions,” says Rob Byron principal consultant with WinterWyman, an IT recruitment firm in the Northeast.

On average, BI skills pay a premium of 12 percent of base salary and have seen 9.1 percent growth in value/demand over the last 3 months.

Salary Range: $62,000-$164,000

The world of IT and business is complex and continually morphing. IT touches every part of the business, which often times has global implications. Remote workforces, BYOD and other factors create challenges when it comes to creating an environment where workers can be productive, collaborate and innovate in a seamless manner and that’s where unified communication skills come in.

The technology involves collaboration tools, telephony, messaging, social media and more. The current interest is no surprise to Foote who says, “There’s currently a lot of activity in unified communications and it’s always been very popular.”

Unified messaging skills are averaging a skills premium of about 12 percent of base pay and have seen a rise of 9.1 percent in value/demand in the last six months.

Salary Range: $45,000-$113,000