Concerns about rapid digital transformation have never been greater.

The world is already undergoing a paradigm shift. Many organizations have started embracing technologies like AI, data science, virtual reality, and more. As we move forward in 2021, there are certain emerging job roles that are likely to rule this year and in the foreseeable future.

Let us delve deeper and brief the emerging tech jobs crucial for students:

1. Security engineer

Predictions by Cybersecurity Ventures along with other experts said there will be around 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs in 2021. What does this mean? Well, the world will need more security engineers and cybersecurity specialists. Isn’t it scary? Everything is online today. From making transactions to filling in our personal details, it’s all there today. The only way around it is by having more specialists in this field.

In one report about Facebook, it was said their data of 29 million users were stolen. Organizations need to put more emphasis on the need to find someone qualified enough to take cybersecurity jobs.

2. AI developers/engineers

As said by Subbu Rama, CEO of Bitfusion,

“Today there is a huge demand for AI and deep learning related work with very limited supply, and the pay is extremely good — in fact, overpaid sometimes. So, that’s a good area to focus on.”

Well, AI is already taking the world by storm. Perhaps, everybody would agree with the fact that AI is one of the biggest technological innovations of all time. From mitigating AI risks to data-driven decision-making and resiliency, AI is changing everything.

With organizations reinventing their workflow, businesses have started asking their BI teams to develop and manage AI and machine learning models. As a result, AI specialists and AI engineers will be in dire demand.

3. Data scientists

Huge volumes of data are generated daily. The world will certainly need more data scientists to analyze data and glean insights for future predictions. LinkedIn ranked data scientist as the No.1 most promising job in 2019, and the trend doesn’t seem to cease. The data scientist job remains highly in demand even during the pandemic crisis. Now might be an ideal time for tech graduates to get into data science. This field is highly in-demand, lucrative, and is among the top trending tech jobs of all time.

4. Machine learning engineer

Machine learning jobs are predicted to be worth USD 31 billion by 2024, an annual growth rate of over 40 percent.

With AI and machine learning leading the tech market, putting in a little effort and getting into machine learning could be a great way to get started in 2021. Not to mention, the demand for AI professionals and machine learning engineers surpasses the demand for data scientists. To be precise, these trends will only keep growing and will continue till the foreseeable future.

Job opportunities in both AI and machine learning have considerably increased. Therefore, gaining skills can be a career change. One of the major reasons why tech graduates are getting themselves enrolled in certification courses and programs. Candidates having AI engineer certification or ML certification along with their portfolio of projects are likely to be selected by potential employers.

5. Virtual Reality (VR) developer

VR is still in its nascent stage, yet it hit the market size at USD 18.8 billion in 2020, says Statista. Although this technology is not so much in demand yet as compared to other electronics like smartwatches or smartphones, it is slowly gaining potential. To be precise, large companies such as Sony, Intel, and Microsoft have invested huge money into advancing VR. As a result, the popularity will increase.

Not to mention, the technology made quite an entry amid the pandemic. With work from home becoming the new normal, organizations made VR their go-to tool to conduct meetings and training.

Organizations around the globe are looking to adopt VR. And to make this a success, they will need to hire more VR developers than ever.

6. User Experience (UX) Designer

UX designer is not a new job role, it has been around for quite some time now. But we must admit, it is on the rise. When any consumer launches their service or products they need to also ensure that they’re delivering an outstanding user experience to their customers.

And this is what exactly the UX designers are for – they make sure the products’ websites and apps meet their consumers’ expectations.