In today’s technological age, an increasing number of businesses are proactively developing digital strategies in order to remain competitive. As a result, they have begun to invest in technologies centered around emerging trends in big data/business intelligence, mobile development, and web development. However, many businesses know investing in these technologies isn’t enough – they also need to invest in the right IT talent. In order to truly push the business forward, employers are actively seeking analytical thinking and data savvy IT professionals that can strategically assess data or create digital solutions. If this sounds like you, here are three areas of infrastructure support that are in highest demand right now:

Big Data Analytics/Business Intelligence – As Big Data continues to transform the way organizations use data to make decisions, the demand for IT professionals that possess the ability to acquire, process, and sort vast quantities of data is proving to be difficult to meet. In fact, a recent study from Gartner suggests that 4.4 million IT jobs worldwide will be needed to support big data by 2015. With this in mind, the more confidently candidates can discuss current events in the big data market, the more valuable they will appear to prospective employers.

“Currently, we are seeing companies move away from sql databases (such as Excel), instead preferring to utilize more cloud-operated databases,” says Lisa Samson, Director of ES Technology, a division of The Execu|Search Group. This has highlighted the need for IT professionals to understand new cloud-based programs such as: NoSQL, MongoDB, DynamoDB, and Redis to analyze data. Learning how to analyze data using one or more of these programs, and showing you have cloud computing skills on your resume, may help you stand during your job search.  To learn more about these types of databases and to stay up to date on emerging cloud storage types, codeacademy.com is a good starting point.

Mobile App Development – With a heavy reliance on smart phone and tablet technology, the need for mobile application developers has grown rapidly across all industries. In highest demand are candidates with a working knowledge of different frameworks (e.g., iOS, Android, etc.), as well as a variety of programming languages (e.g., Objective C, C++, SDK, and Ex Code). Therefore, candidates should be prepared to show measurable examples of what they’ve accomplished and what they’re interested in learning, rather than what their degree was in.

Our Information Technology recruiters recommend that their candidates highlight their set of skills clearly at the top of their resume. This will ensure that employers not only get an overview of your technical background, but also see example(s) of how your skills could further help their business. For instance, one way to catch some eyes during the interview stages might be to create your own working software application(s). This will not only demonstrate your technical competency, but it will also show your motivation to learn and execute something new.

Web Developers – Since web development consists of two main types of developers: front-end developers and back-end developers, recruiters recommend that candidates try to specialize in one area in the web development capacity. Therefore, if you want to specialize in front-end development, it is crucial to familiarize yourself with the most in-demand programming languages like HTML version 5, CSS version 3, and various Java Script libraries. “A working knowledge of these languages may allow you to position yourself to be a more well-rounded candidate than your fellow job seekers,” states Lisa.

On the other hand, if you are looking to specialize in back-end development, choosing between open source or closed source development may be difficult. “Candidates interested in standing out as an open source candidate should focus on learning PHP, Ruby, and Java program languages. Conversely, if you want to focus on closed source, .net framework, C Sharp, ASP.net, and VB.net are the key areas companies are looking to build up their teams,” recommends Lisa.