In one short decade, the IT industry has changed tremendously. A decade of economic expansion led to significant adoptions of smartphones, skyrocketing social media use, and machine learning that may be on the cusp of developing into true artificial intelligence. These changes have created many new jobs that didn’t exist a decade ago and have transformed the IT industry.
Economic Expansion: Higher Incomes, More Jobs
In 2010, the U.S. was just coming out of the worst recession since the Great Depression. While the IT industry was probably less affected than many others, it was still a period with little growth and lots of layoffs. As the decade wore on, a slow but steady recovery led to an all-out expansion. Now, wages are rising because of massive shortages of IT workers. Unemployment is at 50-year lows, and more people are participating in the labor force than have in a long time.
From Computers to Smartphones
In 2010, people mainly surfed the internet on laptops and desktops, which could cost close to $1,000 for a decent OS and an adequate hard drive. Windows 7 was the newest version available, and many people were still running Windows XP.
Smartphones were relatively new in 2010. The newest iPhone available was the iPhone 4, and most people still used flip phones with minimal internet accessibility. Data plans didn’t really exist, and there were only 140,000 apps in the iOS app store. Android apps didn’t exist yet, and there was no Android app store.
More people now have smartphones than computers.
In 2019, only 74% of U.S. adults own a home computer, but just about everyone has a smartphone–either Android or iPhone. There are nearly 3 million apps in the iOS app store now, and that number is growing by thousands every day.
What do these changes mean for jobs in the IT industry? A massive shift from software developers to mobile app developers, from iOS to Android, and from servicing desktop applications to mobile apps. Add to that the development of AI and machine learning, and it’s almost like a whole new world compared to a decade ago.
Big Data Explodes
Another massive development in the IT industry is the advent of gathering data about absolutely everything. The industry has had to figure out where to put all this data (the Cloud) and how to make it useful and user-friendly. Data storage, data science, and data analysis have led to jobs like Cloud architect, data analyst, and data engineer.
An unintended consequence of storing massive amounts of data was that viruses and malware created colossal data breaches that began to expose consumer data, including personal financial information. Cybersecurity became a huge part of IT over the past decade, and cybersecurity personnel are some of the most sought-after in the industry today.
Although the changes in the IT industry have been massive over the last decade, IT has remained a solid career with many opportunities available to those who take the time to develop the needed skills. PC AGE offers training in many of the latest computer skills, including certifications that demonstrate the skills employers want and need. Contact us for program and enrollment information and get in on the IT boom now.