Digital predictions for 2021

After a tumultuous year, the world of work has changed dramatically. Organisations have had to adapt their systems, processes and ways of working, shifting to a more agile, creative and flexible approach in order to survive. The digital space has played a huge part in this global transformation and while the demand for skilled digital professionals is soaring, so too is the competition amongst candidates. To help set you up for success in the year ahead, we’ve gathered insights from Experis’ digital recruiters about their predicted trends and expectations for the market in 2021.

Remote working has huge upsides for candidates, one of which is the scope for new job possibilities, as geographical proximity to an employer’s office is no longer relevant. Without this location restriction, permanent jobs and fixed-term projects across the country (and beyond) are up for grabs, meaning professionals can look for work that truly aligns with their interests and skills. The challenge, however, is candidates are now competing with talent on a much broader scale.

As recently as 18-24 months ago, some skills and knowledge would have been listed as “desirable” on a job specification. But after the events of 2020, the need for particular skills has accelerated and what were previously considered nice-to-have areas of expertise are now “essential” requirements for a lot of employers – specifically cloud technologies, such as AWS and Azure.

• Although Javascript was once solely a front-end technology, that’s changed for good. No longer do we assume that a Javascript Developer only works on the front end.
• While Microservices have been on the scene for a while, this year we’ve seen Micro‑frontend architecture becoming increasingly popular and that’s set to continue through 2021.
• Angular and React have been prominent in the market for a number of years but we’re also expecting another (potentially new) Javascript framework to emerge. Svelte is a strong contender.

Increasingly businesses are moving to a cross-functional structure and they’re reaping the benefits from collaborative working and collective problem solving. We expect this approach to continue into the next year and beyond, particularly as remote working rises, organisations invest further in collaborative media tools, and office space is scaled back.

Experis is the global leader in professional IT resourcing and solutions, operating in more than 50 countries worldwide. Thanks to our expert industry knowledge, history of success and strong relationships with organisations large and small, we’re well-equipped to share market insights like these and match specialist IT professionals into permanent and contract assignments. To find out more, visit our website: experis.co.uk/