ACM CareerNews for Tuesday, September 17, 2024
ACM CareerNews is intended as an objective career news digest for busy IT professionals. Views expressed are not necessarily those of ACM. To send comments, please write to [email protected]
Volume 20, Issue 18, September 17, 2024
AI Developers Break Into Top 10 Highest-Paid IT Positions
CIO Dive, September 3
According to a Stack Overflow survey of 11,027 developers in the U.S,, AI developers now rank among the top 10 highest-paid positions for the first time, with annual compensation of $160,000. Senior executives and managers command the highest annual salaries within technology departments in the U.S. on average, followed by mobile, back-end and site reliability engineers. Mobile developer salaries topped $185,000, while back-end developers make around $175,000. Site reliability engineers earn on average $166,500, followed closely by cloud infrastructure engineers at $165,000.
While AI-specific roles are still relatively new, the appetite for these skills is seemingly insatiable, leading enterprises to launch wide-reaching upskilling initiatives and programs. Skills gaps in AI have resulted in a premium for top tech talent. Amid shortages, job seekers with generative AI skills can earn a salary boost of nearly 50% compared to technology workers without them, according to an Indeed report.
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CIOs Share Their Hiring Predictions For the Rest of 2024
Dice Insights, September 12
Even though the tech job market shrank by 4,800 jobs in the first seven months of 2024, there are signs that hiring may stabilize or increase slightly in the fourth quarter of this year. After all, 15 percent of IT staffing companies have seen an increase in new orders in the last three months, which is the highest since mid-2022. Moreover, 58 percent of employers say they plan to add technology staff in the second half of 2024. However, the demand is not evenly distributed across all sectors.
While CIOs forecast slow but steady job growth through the end of the year, for the most part, they will not be looking to fill vacant positions. Instead, they will add professionals who can fulfill a specific business or operational need. With turnover in traditional roles slowing down, tech leaders have some capacity to execute transformational or strategic initiatives that are designed to boost overall performance or meet business objectives. In some cases, this involves adding artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to existing solutions. Most likely, the biggest demand for tech talent will be from companies outside the tech sector.
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3 Ways to Spot a Ghost Job Listing
Fast Company, September 10
Applying for jobs online can often be frustrating, especially when there is no response at all from the employer that the application has even been received. Some job applicants report they are sending out hundreds of resumes a month but yielding few results. Part of the problem may be the proliferation of ghost job listings on recruiting sites like LinkedIn and Indeed. According to a 2024 Recruiting Trends survey, 81 percent of recruiters admitted that their employer posts ads for jobs that either do not exist or are already filled. With that in mind, there are three key ways to spot a ghost job listing.
There are several reasons why companies post ghost listings. For instance, sometimes companies want to have a bank of resumes from qualified candidates to pull from when a new job opens up. This is especially common for recruiting agencies that specialize in specific roles. Another frequent reason for a ghost listing is the company has identified the person they want to hire (either an internal candidate or a candidate who needs a green card) and the firm is legally required to post the position for a certain amount of time. Often companies have contracts with online job boards allowing for a certain number of job listings each month, so the firm might post a role that is not open right now, but they anticipate will be open soon. Also, sometimes the position has frequent turnover so the company keeps the job listing online.
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These Are the Top Tech Skills Employers Want the Most
Entrepreneur.com, September 10
As the tech job market continues to grow and evolve, it is important for job seekers to track which IT skills are in greatest demand by employers. While traditional programming languages are still at the top of the list of in-demand skills, job seekers should not neglect to study emerging fields. The tech landscape is constantly evolving. While developing expertise in high-demand areas like Python and SQL is crucial, it is equally important to keep an eye on emerging trends and be ready to upskill accordingly.
Traditional programming languages like Java and C++ were on the top 10 list, while emerging areas like quantum computing and blockchain did not make it. Python and SQL, which are both used for data science, came up the most. In fact, each appeared in about 24,000 job listings. [Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure, with average salaries above $140,000, are also on the top 10 list, indicating that cloud computing skills are in demand. Robotics ranked fourth. While it is clear that companies are investing heavily in this area, the broad nature of robotics as a skill set may lead to some confusion. Hiring managers and job seekers alike need to be more specific about the exact robotics skills required for each role.
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How to Find the Job of Your Dreams Using ChatGPT
CNET, September 7
New AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT can help you land the job of your dreams. With the help of artificial intelligence, you can create your resume, a custom cover letter, and other documents required during the job search. You can also curate your job search and brainstorm new job openings that might be a good match for your experience. While ChatGPT is perhaps most useful as a tool for creating documents, it can also function as a career counselor. That being said, it can take some trial and error to get the prompts just right.
To get the most out of ChatGPT, you will need to tell it about yourself. First, give it your elevator pitch, including the rundown on your career, experience, ambitions and values. You can then have it suggest job roles, company types and career paths that best align with your experience and goals. Often, ChatGPT will answer with detailed results for some job roles, company types and career paths to target.
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Job Seekers Are Missing Something Very Basic in Interviews Says Hiring Expert of 20 Years
CNBC, September 10
Recruiters are increasingly complaining that many job applicants show up at their in-person interviews woefully unprepared. In some cases, they do not even know what the company does, or how their job role fits into the bigger picture. This is true not just for recent college grads, but also for senior managers. Thus, after receiving an offer for an interview, your first item of business should be researching what the company does, and then thinking about how your unique skills and experiences are a potential match.
Being unprepared for job interviews tends to happen when candidates apply for a role through a third-party recruitment agency. By the time it comes to an interview, though, you should do some research. This will be necessary in order to express your interest in the opportunity, otherwise it can be a big waste of time for both parties. Gearing up for the interview does not have to take too much time. Sometimes all it takes is reviewing a few LinkedIn or X profiles, or reviewing the website of the company. With this basic information, you can show the interviewer that you are engaged. This can help start the conversation off on a very positive note. If you want to go above and beyond, you might get in contact with any mutual connections you have with your interviewer for feedback on what they are like as a colleague or manager.
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7 Reasons For Applying For a Job When You Do Not Meet All of the Requirements
The Ladders, September 10
Even if a job description includes a few requirements you might not fully meet, it could still be worth it to apply for the position. In fact, there are seven good reasons for applying for a job even when you do not meet all the requirements. After all, many employers value potential and growth over qualifications, and so your willingness to grow and adapt may outweigh any gaps in your qualifications.
If you are looking for growth opportunities, it can help to apply for a job slightly out of your comfort zone. Employers appreciate candidates who can grow with the company, offering long-term value. You can also target opportunities that result in acquiring new skills and experiences. By acquiring new skills on the job, you can enhance your career trajectory. For example, a software developer might apply for a senior developer role even if they lack a few years of experience. If they demonstrate a solid understanding of the necessary coding languages and a strong ability to learn, the hiring manager may see them as a valuable long-term asset.
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Community Coworking: A Way to Solve Remote Worker Loneliness
Hackernoon, August 15
By 2025, more than 32.6 million U.S. citizens could work remotely. While that is a sign that the remote working trend is more than just a post-pandemic fad, it is also raising a number of issues and concerns about the modern workplace. While remote working may be convenient in several aspects, it can also lead to a sense of alienation and a loss of productivity. With that in mind, community coworking could offer an opportunity for people to come together, share experiences, and build relationships.
Community coworking models are being created to address the issue of separated coworkers. They are doing this by prioritizing a mix of social and professional experiences. As an affordable, inclusive, and community-based movement, they strive to connect employees from different companies in a world gone remote. The emphasis on social and professional experiences as a solution to the challenges of remote working is what sets this new model apart from its competitors. By creating a sense of belonging among members, traditional boundaries are broken down and new opportunities can emerge. After all, many traditional coworking spaces are no longer making the cut, often characterized as expensive, lonely, and boring.
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The Rise of the Chief AI Officer
Communications of the ACM, September 6
Given the tremendous growth in generative AI, it is perhaps no surprise that organizations are beginning to hire chief artificial intelligence officers (CAIOs). A June Gartner poll of more than 1,800 executives revealed that 54 percent of organizations have a head of AI or an AI leader who orchestrates these initiatives. Of that figure, 88 percent said their AI leader did not have the title of chief AI officer (CAIO). This could be because organizations are decentralized, siloed, or unclear about who should be responsible for AI initiatives. Often, the responsibility for overseeing AI has fallen to the chief technology officer or chief information officer.
As organizations look to drive business growth and transform operations with AI, a CAIO can become a key player in steering these initiatives to success. As of June, there are an estimated 1,000 CAIOs in place. There could be far more, but CEOs and chief HR officers are often confused about the responsibilities of the CAIO role, as well as its scale and scope. They are not always clear if they want someone to guide strategic AI initiatives across the organization, or a more tech-focused executive who can bring to market a few targeted projects featuring generative AI. Organizations also have to figure out who is going to interview the candidate, especially if they do not have AI expertise within the organization.
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Leveraging Computational Thinking in the Era of Generative AI
Blog@CACM, August 29
Computer science practitioners, academics, and industry thought leaders may need to re-think the concept of computational thinking, given the phenomenal rise in generative AI over the past two years. Some have already argued that this concept, which was first introduced more than 40 years ago, may no longer be relevant in the era of AI. However, that is not likely to be the case. Generative AI actually increases the importance of computational thinking. As computational thinking becomes an essential skill for all, it is starting to manifest itself in new forms, such as prompt engineering.
Computational thinking is shaped in terms of several key questions. For example: What can humans do better than computers? And what can computers do better than humans? As a result, a significant amount of research has sought to answer and define which human cognitive and social skills are required for problem-solving processes in general, and for solving computational problems in particular. Today, the following skills are recognized as key components of computational thinking: problem formulation; problem decomposition; organization and logical analysis of data; data representation using models and simulations; abstraction; suggestion and assessment of multiple solutions to a given problem; implementation of the chosen solution; and generalization. Computational thinking skills are recognized today as important not only in the context of computer science, but also as important skills for everyone in the modern workplace, and can be applied in various contexts.
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