IT professionals still in high demand across the UK

While the UK is still plunged in uncertainty with Brexit, there are no such issues with the IT industry.

According to an analysis by CompTIA, employers across the UK posted job openings for more than 162,000 core IT positions in Q1 2019. IT positions accounted for nine percent of all UK job postings over the quarter, CompTIA's examination of data from Burning Glass Technologies Labour Insights reveals.

"Software programmers and developers were far and away the most in-demand job employers sought to fill, with nearly 58,000 job postings," says CompTIA research and market intelligence senior director Amy Carrado.

"But there also was robust hiring demand for technology professionals with skills in infrastructure and networking.

Occupations that were in high demand included IT business analysts, architects and systems designers (24,595 job ads); IT user support technicians (18,949); IT and telecommunications professionals (15,554); web designers and developers (14,852); and IT operations technicians (14,824).

"This strong demand aligns with the ongoing move to digital transformation, as organisations modernise their IT infrastructure," says CompTIA Europe and the Middle East skills certification vice president Graham Hunter.

"Additionally, many have an eye on the future, anticipating the rollout of 5G wireless networks, edge computing and related emerging technologies.

UK employers with the most IT job postings in Q1 included the National Health Service, Fresh Group Limited, Amazon, KPMG and Barclays.

More than 200,000 of the core IT job postings for the quarter were in the London metropolitan area, but the demand for tech talent was also present in Manchester (29,931 job postings), Birmingham (23,460) and Cambridge (17,270).

"Not every job posting results in a new hire, and some companies may have multiple postings for the same position but the help-wanted ads are an indicator of the areas where organisations are making their technology investments," Carrado says.

The number of core IT job postings in Q1 was actually down 21 percent from Q4 2018. But the size of the IT workforce continues to grow, to an estimated 1,284,052 workers at the end of 2018. Projections for future tech employment are also positive, with the UK tech workforce expected to grow by more than 14,000 jobs in 2019; and by an estimated 48,000 positions by 2023.