ACM CareerNews for Tuesday, March 4 2025
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 21, Issue 5, March 4, 2025
AI and Cyber Top List of In-Demand Tech Roles
CIO Dive, February 21
AI analysts, business intelligence developers, and cybersecurity engineers are at the top of the list of the most in-demand technology roles, according to a new Robert Half report. The talent consulting firm analyzed 6 million new positions across job boards and company sites. More than three-quarters of technology leaders said their departments are currently experiencing skills gaps. Moreover, nearly 7 in 10 executives said skills gaps increased in the last year.
As enterprises move further along the curve of AI adoption, talent attraction remains a stumbling block. Skilled AI workers are scarce and in demand, with AI and machine learning (ML) analysts at the top of the list. Other in-demand tech roles include business intelligence developer, cybersecurity engineer, data engineer, DevOps engineer, and IT project manager. To respond to the deficit in experienced AI specialists, CIOs are turning inward. Businesses plan to deploy internal training efforts to close the gap, elevating in-house rank and file employees.
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CIO Hiring on the Rise: How to Land a Top Tech Exec Role in 2025
CIO.com, February 25
Hiring for top IT leaders has started off strong in 2025. Some recruitment firms are now reporting record growth, and this growth is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Top IT leaders in demand include CIOs, CTOs and VP-level senior technology leaders. Last year saw a slowdown in hiring. However, with the election over and a new calendar year under way, organizations and placement firms are experiencing an influx of new searches.
Organizations recognize that without the right technology leadership, they will face challenges ahead and are trying to ward off disadvantages now. As a result, there is widespread optimism around CIO hiring, with many CIOs reporting a significant uptick in executive recruiters reaching out to them over the past month compared to months prior. But with the increase in opportunities come significant expectations on what a CIO or job candidate should bring to the table this year. Overall, successful CIOs in 2025 will need to balance technical expertise with business acumen, leadership, and a focus on data, AI, cybersecurity, and M&A integration.
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Employees Plan to Ask For More Money and New Skills and You Should Too
HR Dive, February 25
According to a new survey by Resume Now, 66% of workers globally have career regrets. Chief among those regrets is not asking for a pay raise. Workers also regret not applying for a specific job, not trying for a new promotion, not pursuing their true passion in life, and not looking into new training opportunities. Given that these regrets can fester over time, it is important to act sooner rather than later. That means now may be the time to ask for more money or new career training opportunities.
Based on survey data, workers are increasingly concerned about their wages failing to keep up with inflation. As a result, more workers say they are looking for new jobs. In fact, as many as 57% of workers may be looking for new jobs within the first half of the year alone. Another report found that stagnant salaries and rising costs are keeping workers from achieving their life goals. Of the 1,000 workers surveyed by Resume Now about regrets, 58% said they regretted staying at a job too long and a similar number said they wished they had negotiated their salary when they took their job. Less than 40% regretted quitting. The report found that the top career regrets centered around inaction. For the majority of participants, there were fewer regrets associated with actions they did take.
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Emerging Tech to Create Over 1 Million Jobs in Coming Five Years
Entrepreneur.com (India), January 2
In India, the IT hiring outlook over the next five years looks promising, with expectations of recovery and growth driven by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, cloud computing, and data science. According a new report, these emerging technologies alone are expected to generate over one million jobs in India in the next five years. The overall workforce in the IT industry is projected to grow from 5.4 million to 7.5 million by 2030, adding over two million jobs. This dramatic shift is anticipated due to increased demand across industries. Traditional skills are now merging with breakthrough technologies to create unparalleled opportunities.
Strategic investments in upskilling the workforce will remain crucial to success as emerging technologies advance at an unprecedented speed. Even countries with large tech workforces will likely face a talent crunch, and India is no different. India's AI talent pool is expanding by 15 percent annually, while the industry is growing at a faster pace of 25 to 30 percent, widening the disparity. Companies are shifting their focus from mass hiring to targeting sector-specific candidates with relevant expertise. Many IT and non-IT firms are also investing in upskilling their workforce in AI to enhance employee efficiency and productivity.
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Searching For Your Dream Job? Google's New Career AI Tool Can Help
ZDNet, January 21
Google has launched an experimental new artificial intelligence (AI) tool known as Career Dreamer that can help job seekers figure out what roles to apply to next. Career Dreamer is a tool that helps users find skills and opportunities that best match their own personal experiences based on a couple of quick prompts. Using AI to analyze patterns between educational backgrounds, skills, and interests, the tool can output career possibilities that could be a match. The experience is free, and the prompts take less than five minutes to answer.
To get started, you will need to visit the Career Dreamer website. There, you will need to answer some questions about yourself, such as your current role, tasks, and skills. After entering your job title, the experience will generate tasks corresponding to what your job role typically does. It will then allow you to pick roles that apply to your job. This enables the output to be tailored to your role. Once you are done with the questions, you can add interests, education, and more experiences before seeing your job results. The tool also generates a Career Identity Statement, which is a blurb describing who you are. You can copy and paste this statement for your materials, or if it does not align, you can click to generate another blurb.
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Must-Have STEM Skills For a Sustainability Career
Silicon Republic, February 21
When it comes to addressing the climate crisis and issues related to global sustainability, STEM skills will be paramount for tech professionals. Defined as advancing economic growth for the current population without depleting natural resources for future generations, sustainable development is a key focus for many organizations. As a result, tech professionals should be ready to brush up on key STEM skills if they want to advance their careers.
IT workers within the renewable energy sector should have intricate knowledge of clean energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal power and the technologies used to harness their potential. Useful skills to have include physics, design and operational talents, as professionals should know how and why something works, how it can be turned into a usable resource and how it can be sustainably maintained overtime. Technical knowledge in the clean energy space is changing by the day, requiring professionals to commit to what may well be life-long learning. Although it is not strictly a STEM skill, another useful ability for clean energy experts is project management as initiatives often require years, or even decades, of intensive and accurate planning. A strong leader is needed to ensure that factors such as resources, stakeholders, deadlines, safety, usability and unpredictability are all taken into consideration, over a long period of time.
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Using a SWOT Analysis to Advance Your Tech Career
Dice Insights, February 24
In a rapidly changing tech hiring environment, a highly effective tool for career self-evaluation is the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) framework. This is a strategic planning methodology originally designed for business but now invaluable for personal career development. By applying SWOT analysis to your tech career, you can utilize its insights to pinpoint growth areas, craft a robust career development strategy, and make well-informed career decisions.
SWOT analysis has become an essential instrument for career development. It enables individuals to assess their personal and professional standing by dissecting their skills and external career factors into four pivotal categories. When you consider strengths, you should think about what unique skills, experiences, and assets provide you with a competitive advantage. When it comes to weaknesses, you should think about what areas of improvement could potentially impede your career growth. For opportunities, you should consider what emerging job market trends or new technologies you can capitalize on. Finally, when it comes to threats, you should think about what external challenges might obstruct your career progression. By meticulously mapping out these elements, you gain a clearer understanding of your current position and the necessary steps to take for career advancement.
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How to Spot Fake Job Postings and Avoid Scams
Fast Company, February 24
Some job listings can seem too good to be true or lead nowhere at all. The reality is that the job market is full of fake postings and ghost jobs that can waste your time and make the job search unnecessarily difficult. To navigate this confusing landscape, it is important to be able to spot common red flags, so you can differentiate between legitimate opportunities and scams designed to exploit job seekers.
The biggest red flag often has nothing to do with the job description or the company website. The real issue shows up when a listing has zero mention of salary. If a job post says something vague about offering competitive pay or notes that salary is dependent on experience (without giving even a basic range), the company may not be serious about hiring. A real position has a budget. If a company cannot commit to a number, it probably is not committed to filling the role anytime soon. Roles can stay open for six-plus months because companies want to see what talent is out there without offering a concrete salary. That being said, the real test happens during the first conversation. If an employer avoids discussing pay or refuses to give a range even when asked, something is off. Avoiding salary discussions leads to drawn-out hiring cycles, wasted interviews, and applicants walking away after weeks of back and forth.
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The Soft Side of Software: My Career-Limiting Communication
ACM Queue, February 6
In order to advance a tech career, having the right soft skills can often be just as important as having the right technical skills. Simply knowing how to communicate with top executives, for example, can lead to glowing performance reviews and new opportunities. These communication skills can help to instill confidence that you are doing a good job, and that you know how to deal with problems as they arise. In some cases, they can lead to promotions or newfound influence within the workplace.
At any point in your career, it is important to hone your communication skills. Perhaps the most important tip is to be familiar with the challenges your audience faces. Before you go to an important meeting, take the time to learn and think about the challenges the other participants are addressing. What are their big concerns? What questions do they have? How do their backstories mesh with what you want to present? Taking the time to learn about your audience and their challenges will allow you to communicate on their level. For example, if you are explaining a strategy for a product, do you need to present extensive market and customer context, or is your audience likely to already know that? Also, carefully consider how much framing your proposal will likely require helping others in the room truly understand your message. Too much explanation could end up boring your audience and losing their attention.
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How Science and Engineering Students Use GenAI Tools Throughout Their Academic Journey
Blog@CACM, February 18
Based on a recent survey of nearly 1,000 science and engineering undergraduate students, it is now possible to understand how students use generative AI tools throughout their four-year academic journey. GenAI tool usage in science and engineering higher education is not static. Rather, it evolves significantly. As students progress through their academic journey, they become more and more comfortable integrating GenAI tools into their learning process. Rather than simply replacing traditional learning methods, GenAI tools seem to adjust to the changing needs of students.
One-size-fits-all policies on GenAI usage might be less effective than year-specific guidelines that acknowledge different needs and capabilities at each academic stage. Educational institutions should consider these insights when developing policies and support systems. The data clearly show that GenAI tools are not just a passing trend but are becoming a fundamental part of how students learn and work.
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