Data is in for IT, AI and cybersecurity jobs growth

TECH-SAVVY Australians will have their pick of the jobs well into the future, as demand for ICT professionals continues to boom.

Federal Government modelling forecasts the number of information and communication technology (ICT) professionals will grow by more than 20 per cent in the five years to May, 2024, creating 63,200 extra roles.

The latest Hays Jobs Report reveals there is particular employment demand for cloud engineers, network engineers, security specialists, end user support professionals, full stack software engineers, data scientists and robotic process automation specialists.

A CSIRO report on artificial intelligence finds the number of AI-related jobs in Australia have increased tenfold over the past five years and will need to at least quintuple again in the next decade. “Australia currently has 6600 AI specialist workers,” it states.

“We estimate that by 2030 Australian industry will require a workforce of between 32,000 to 161,000 employees in computer vision, robotics, human language technologies, data science and other areas of AI expertise.

CSIRO Data 61 machine learning group leader Dr Richard Nock says his field is rapidly expanding as automation and data storage increases and we gain the computational power to analyse this data.

“This increase in the job market for AI and machine learning is going to be very, very significant (and) it’s not just going to be about cars or planes … there is going to be (a lot of applications),” he says.

“One good example you wouldn’t expect is the diagnosis of mental health disorders.”

SailPoint chief information security officer Charles Poff says cybersecurity is one of Australia’s most promising growth sectors, with the potential for almost 17,000 additional workers by 2026.

“If you didn’t get a cybersecurity degree in university or are in a role seemingly worlds away from cybersecurity, that’s OK,” he says.

“We see this a lot and noncomputer degrees can be an asset. I also suggest volunteering to participate in projects that are IT-related, especially if there is a security component.”

GROWING SECTOR: SailPoint chief information security officer Charles Poff.