5 Tech Skills in Lowest Demand in 2013

The job market for technology workers looks bright at the beginning of 2013. Last month, more than 64 percent of the more than 1,000 technology-focused recruiters and hiring managers interviewed by Dice, a career site for technology and engineering professionals, said its companies or clients were likely to add technology staff in the first half of 2013. But not all technology skillsets are in equal demand. Here are the five types of hires that recruiters and hiring managers told Dice were low on the priority list in 2013.

For now, professionals with mainframe programming skills are a lower priority, but it’s not likely to stay that way for long. Mainframes aren’t going anywhere when it comes to organizations like government agencies, Fortune 100 financial institutions and large airlines. But while the mainframes are likely to stay, the programmers aren’t—a generation of mainframe programmers is about to hit retirement age.

QA-related jobs are also a lower priority when it comes to demand for tech skills, but everything is relative. While companies may not be looking for QA professionals with the same fervor they seek Java/J2EE developers and mobile developers, Hill says that QA-related job postings remain plentiful. The job market for QA professionals may be tougher than it has been, but it’s still good.