Disclaimer: Until in any other case said, any opinions expressed beneath belong solely to the creator. Knowledge sourced from the Singapore Digital Financial system Report printed by IMDA.
Singapore’s Infocomm Media Growth Authority has simply launched its annual report on the state of nation’s digital economy, which additionally contains fascinating insights in regards to the job market state of affairs for tech staff within the nation.
An business value S$128 billion
The share of Data & Communications sector in Singapore’s GDP has elevated to 18.6%, for a complete worth of S$128 billion in 2024. Two thirds of it, nonetheless, doesn’t come from the tech sector itself, however from technology-driven companies which are used throughout all different branches of the financial system.
For that purpose, if you happen to’re a younger techie with formidable profession plans, you might have considered trying to remember that IT corporations should not the be-all and end-all, and there’s numerous work that must be achieved in digitalisation processes of different companies.
You possibly can see how these alternatives have blossomed within the sectors catching up on deploying tech of their companies in recent times, and the worth added it has generated:
Comparable developments might be seen in employment, the place tech corporations are liable for far fewer new jobs coming to the market annually. The speed at which tech employment grows in Non I&C corporations was nearly 4 occasions increased than for specialised enterprise.
It has additionally surpassed it in whole variety of tech employees:
Median salaries hit S$9000
Inclusive of employer CPF, median gross salaries for tech staff have crossed the S$9,000 mark, considerably increased than the S$5,500 median for all the inhabitants. Since gross figures are often introduced within the information media, I’m displaying them right here first, for ease of comparability.
On a extra relatable foundation, excluding employer’s contributions, which staff by no means actually see, median wages in I&C nonetheless got here near S$8,000, after a powerful 13.5% leap on a year-on-year foundation.
These figures, thoughts you, should not only for tech corporations after all, however for all staff in Data & Communications. As you possibly can see, it’s not solely a profession that pays very effectively in Singapore however one which outpaces different professions in several sectors. Everyone wants tech employees.
That stated, not all jobs in tech are created equal, and there have been many developments within the sector over the previous few years as priorities change and new abilities are prized above others.
Knowledge analytics & AI up, net improvement down
In accordance with the report, abilities related to knowledge analytics, machine studying or AI have been on the rise—each when it comes to the tempo of change in addition to their total share in all jobs out there:
“Programming languages corresponding to Python and SQL had been the among the many extra extremely sought-after tech abilities prior to now 5 years. In 2024, 24% of all tech job postings required Python (a rise of 9 proportion factors from 2019), whereas SQL was required in 20% of tech job postings (a rise of 5 proportion factors). The robust demand is probably going a mirrored image of the applicability of those abilities throughout a variety of features, corresponding to knowledge analytics, automated workflows, and improvement of machine studying fashions.”
Cloud and digital infrastructure are seeing the same improve, as corporations are shifting extra companies off premises to devoted knowledge centres. Therefore the regular demand for AWS or Azure consultants.
“In keeping with this transition to a cloud-native setting, employers are more and more in search of tech professionals who’re proficient in abilities related to containerisation (e.g., Docker), orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes), in addition to automation (e.g., Ansible, Jenkins). These abilities which allow the versatile, transportable, and automatic deployment of purposes inside cloud environments, have turn into extra vital as corporations search to scale their digital companies extra effectively.”
In the meantime, the whole lot related to the net has been fairly stagnant.
JavaScript has registered the most important drop of all—displaying up in 12% of job postings in comparison with 21% simply 5 years in the past. In keeping with this, abilities in HTML, PHP, JQuery, Ajax in addition to cell platforms of Android and iOS look like fairly saturated, dropping in prominence over time.
In the event you had been considering of a profession in net or cell improvement, then maybe it’s not too late to rethink your selections. Not solely are you going to see fewer employment alternatives, however their quantity is trending downwards as effectively.
In whole, there are abilities in 20 totally different areas that fall above the horizontal line, displaying rising demand amongst employers since 2019:
- Python
- Microsoft Azure
- Amazon Net Providers
- Kubernetes
- SQL
- Docker
- API
- Energy BI
- Linux
- Terraform
- JIRA
- Git
- React.js
- Typescript
- Go
- Ansible
- Jenkins
- Postgre SQL
- Java
- Google Cloud Platform
Proficiency in JavaScript is, after all, nonetheless a extremely wanted talent, so you shouldn’t utterly ignore it, even after it slid within the ranks. The remainder of these within the backside a part of the chart, nonetheless, may require some consideration particularly as AI instruments are already consuming into human jobs there.
Nonetheless, regardless of the AI revolution and layoffs that hit corporations around the globe, each employment in tech and salaries paid to certified staff preserve going up in Singapore—and it doesn’t appear to be these developments are underneath menace.
- Learn different articles we’ve written on Singapore’s job panorama here.
Featured Picture Credit score: man64/ depositphotos
