What are the best careers 2024 has to offer? You’ll find the answer in our list of the fastest-growing careers for this year. Go through this list and tell us which career caught your eye:
Best Tech Careers 2024
We have created the following list of the best careers in 2024 based on Robert Half’s 2021 Salary Guide. All the salary-related numbers you’ll see in this article are taken from there.
1. Security Professionals
In 2021, the field that tops the list of the fastest-growing tech careers is cybersecurity. According to Robert Half’s 2021 report, cybersecurity professionals are the most in-demand professionals this year. There’s a good reason for it.
According to a study, a cyber attack happens every 39 seconds on average. In Accenture’s 2019 report, they found that cybersecurity breaches had risen by 67% over the previous five years.
As companies rely more on digital technologies, they would need to focus more on having a strong cybersecurity infrastructure, which they can only have with skilled cybersecurity professionals.
Pay in this field starts from $124,250 and goes up to $213,000. There many subdomains in this field including data security, network security, information security, and systems security.
What Do They Do
A cybersecurity professional is responsible for keeping the digital resources of their organization safe from hackers and malicious organizations.
They must be aware of all the weaknesses of their organization’s digital security implementations so they can address them in time. They are also responsible for training the staff about the best practices to handle data and information safely.
Some of the most prominent roles in this field include Security Engineer, Information Security Engineer, Cyber Security Engineer, among others.
How to Pursue a Career in This Field
To pursue a career in this field, you must be familiar with various cybersecurity trends and technologies. Recruiters look for experienced and qualified professionals for these roles as cybersecurity professionals handle a very sensitive aspect of an organization.
The best way to pursue a career in this field is through a cybersecurity course. It would allow you to learn all the important skills for this profession and make you eligible to apply for such roles.
2. Cloud Architect
Cloud architect ranks second in our list of the fastest-growing tech careers as the use of cloud computing solutions has increased significantly in the last few years.
Cloud computing solutions allow companies to reduce their operating costs and become more efficient by saving their time and effort. Moreover, these solutions are significantly more affordable than other data storage and processing methods, which has caused their popularity to increase substantially.
Out of all the cloud computing roles, the one with the most demand in 2024 would be a cloud architect. The pay for cloud architects will range from $121,000 per annum to $202,250 per annum, depending on their expertise and experience.
What Do They Do
A cloud architect is responsible for overseeing their company’s cloud computing strategy and managing the deployment, management, and support of their cloud applications. They must have a strong understanding of various operating systems along with other cloud computing skills such as programming, networking, AWS, Azure, etc.
Cloud architects work with teams of other cloud computing professionals so they must have strong communication and collaboration skills along with their technical expertise.
They should be well versed in automation, scaling cloud applications, I&O, ITSM, and governance. Cloud architects must also know how to evaluate the cost and performance of different cloud systems so they can determine the suitable cloud computing strategy for their organization.
How to Pursue a Career in This Field
If you want to become a cloud architect, you will have to become familiar with different cloud technologies available in the market. Some crucial skills you must learn are:
- Amazon Web Services
- Distributed Systems
- MongoDB
- SQL and Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS)
- Databases and Algorithms
We recommend taking a cloud computing course to learn these skills along with the related ones. At upGrad, we offer a cloud computing course that offers 500+ hours of study material, 7+ projects, and 10+ live sessions. You will learn directly from experts so you can resolve doubts quickly and learn the necessary concepts easily.
3. Database Administrator
Big data careers will also see a rise in demand in 2024. Big data refers to using large quantities of data to find and generate actionable insights. Among most big data careers, the role that will see the most demand is a database administrator.
The pay for inexperienced database administrators will be $79,750 per annum on average while mid-career database administrators can expect to earn $100,750 per year. On the other hand, skilled and experienced database administrators can make around $160,000 per year on average.
Pay in this field depends a lot on the person’s skills, experience, employer and the competitiveness of their field.
What Do They Do
Database administrators are responsible for maintaining the software their organization uses to manage a database and making sure the data is accessible. DBAs are responsible for efficiency and functionality.
Database administrators make sure the database solutions of their organization are secure and have a backup. They have to monitor the servers and optimize their performance to keep the operation smooth.
DBAs must be familiar with different database technologies including SQL, Linux, and Oracle.
How to Pursue a Career in This Field
Database administrators are experts in big data and database management. They must have a degree in computer science or a qualification in database management as this field requires one to be adept at multiple skills.
We recommend taking a Master of Science in Computer Science degree for this role as it will teach you the must-have skills for this role. You must learn ORacle, DevOps, MySQL, SQL, and other related technologies.
4. Programmer Analyst
Programmer analyst is also among the fastest-growing tech careers this year. Beginners in this field can expect to earn $88,750 per year while those with average experience in an industry with moderate competition can earn $109,500 per year on average.
Similarly, highly experienced programmer analysts in competitive sectors can earn up to $154,500 per year on average.
It’s one of the most popular professions in the tech field as many companies require the expertise of programmer analysts.
What Do They Do
A programmer analyst defines, develops, tests analyzes, and maintains new software applications for their organization. They write and code software programs and applications. Keep in mind that a programmer analyst is quite different from a programmer.
While a programmer analyst works directly with a client to understand their unique requirements and create a solution for them, a programmer doesn’t work directly with a client.
They also have to debug and trouble programs and information systems. A programmer analyst is responsible for determining project costs and working with project managers.
How to Pursue a Career in This Field
You must have a certification in software development or computer science to pursue a career in this field. Programmer analysts must be adept at programming and should know multiple programming languages such as JavaScript, Java, .NET, and C++.
They work directly with clients so they must have strong interpersonal and communication skills.
5. Systems Analyst
System analysts have been seeing a steady rise in demand for the last few years. These professionals help companies in understanding how software, hardware or an IT system would fit their requirements.
A great highlight of this profession is that with sufficient experience and skills, you can easily get a six-figure income as a systems analyst.
Beginners in this field can expect to earn around $81,250 per year while those with average experience can earn $96,500. Those with significant experience in this field and a competitive industry can earn up to $136,750 per annum on average.
What Do They Do
A systems analyst designs techniques to solve business problems for an organization through analyzing their IT systems. They have to identify and fix issues present in the organization’s IT system efficiently and effectively. Systems analysts are also responsible for testing programs and databases to ensure they function efficiently.
Similarly, they are responsible for running security audits and creating documentation on the organization’s systems. Systems analysts write requirements for new systems and help with their implementation. They are responsible for monitoring the system’s performance as well.
How to Pursue a Career in This Field
If you want to become a systems analyst, you must have a computer science or IT degree. This field requires you to have strong problem-solving and analytical skills. In terms of hard skills, you must be good at programming, data analysis, and project management to pursue this role.
6. Mobile Applications Developer
In the late 2000s, Apple had started promoting their smartphones with the tagline “There’s an app for that”. They even registered a trademark for the phrase “There’s an app for that” so you can understand how successful this campaign was.
Fast-forward a decade later, what was simply a catchphrase is now a reality. We have apps for nearly everything and as smartphones become more popular and accessible, the demand for applications increases accordingly.
This is why mobile applications developers are among the best careers in 2024. The pay for inexperienced mobile applications developers is $112,750 while mid-career professionals in this field earn around $161,750. Highly experienced and skilled mobile application developers earn $189,750 per annum on average.
What Do They Do
As the name suggests, a mobile application developer is responsible for developing mobile applications for their clients or organization. They must be familiar with the different mobile platforms available in the market and how to develop applications that will work on those platforms.
They should be familiar with Android, Windows, iOS, and other popular operating systems. Mobile application developers are responsible for the entire development life cycle of an app. This means, they handle the development, testing, design, troubleshooting, and debugging of the app.
They must be familiar with different programming languages including JavaScript, HTML, and Objective C.
How to Pursue a Career in This Field
If you want to become a mobile application developer, you must have a computer science degree or a software development certification. They will teach you the necessary skills for becoming a mobile application developer and give you the foundation you need to enter this field as a professional.
Conclusion
The above are the best careers 2024 has to offer. So if you’re planning to get better pay or increase your growth prospects, we recommend choosing one of the above fields.
It is best to upskill yourself with the latest technologies. Checkout upGrad’s top courses in Data Science, Machine Learning, Digital Marketing, MBA from LBS & Full Stack Development.
It would ensure that you get the maximum chances of succeeding professionally. Be sure to check out the courses we have shared if you’re interested in a related career.
