The 13 Most Difficult IT Roles to Fill in 2021: Insights from the CIO Survey

2021 CIO Survey data shows organizations are working hard to fill cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data analytics roles, forcing companies to look farther afield for IT talent.

Since last year, the most difficult IT positions have not changed much, but remote work now allows candidates from previously restricted geographic areas to apply.

"The talent war has changed dramatically," says Alex Kraus, Vice President at Metis Strategy. "The talent pool is much larger, often global, whereas before it was limited to the location of the corporate headquarters."

The pandemic has had a major impact on this year's IT spending. According to the CIO Survey, the three main business drivers for IT budgets are transforming existing business processes (36%), increasing cybersecurity protection (34%), and improving customer experience (33%).

Kraus notes that security hiring is a pervasive pain point. He explains that security investment often lacks a clear ROI unless a significant data‑breach event alarms the board and C‑level executives, making it easier to justify increased cybersecurity spending.

Another "big bucket" of open roles relates to employee experience, shifting from a focus on health and wellbeing to factors such as productivity, scalability, and virtual collaboration.

He adds that anything tied to data analytics is now a hot button. Kraus’s top recommendation for addressing these shortages is strict prioritization—focus on the areas that will be most critical to the business next year.

13 Most Difficult Jobs

According to the 2021 CIO Survey, these positions have the highest pain points when searching for qualified candidates:

Cybersecurity: 21%

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning: 20%

Data Science / Analytics: 19%

DevOps / DevSecOps / Agile: 12%

Cloud Services / Integration: 11%

Robotic Process Automation (RPA): 9%

IoT / Edge Computing (connected devices, sensors): 8%

Application Development: 8%

Software Engineering: 8%

Enterprise Architecture: 7%

Cloud Architecture: 7%

Enterprise Software (ERP, CRM, etc.): 6%

Multi‑Cloud Management: 6%

Finding Good Candidates

Overall, IT turnover has remained low over the past year. CIO Jo Abernathy cites Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina as an example, noting that turnover was already low before the pandemic. Nevertheless, “challenging positions remain challenging,” especially in AI and analytics, which are the second and third most common pain points for today’s IT leaders.

To attract strong applicants, BCBSNC sponsors two computer‑science and engineering programs at North Carolina State University. "We have to provide projects and mentorship for students," Abernathy explains. "It takes time, but it has proven to be a way to draw young professionals into the field. They interact with our staff, like the culture, mentorship, and challenging work, and decide to join us."

She notes that the company has only a "few" such employees, and that they do not want every hire in these disciplines to lack practical experience, so sponsorship is not a silver bullet.

Beyond that, the company deliberately brands itself as an attractive tech employer through meet‑ups, award nominations, panel discussions, and local tech events. "These things definitely help top talent view you as an employer," Abernathy says.

Another advantage is being a nonprofit organization that serves all citizens in the state and strives to improve healthcare accessibility and outcomes. Younger generations want to know their work has greater meaning and purpose, which works in the company’s favor.

More Training

Core & Main, a distributor of water, sewer, storm‑water, and fire‑protection products based in Orlando, describes itself as a geographically distributed IT shop with team members across time zones. Its newly appointed CIO says the company has maintained its team through COVID without a turnover change.

Given the increased emphasis on delivering digital tools and the exponential growth in customer demand in 2020, Core & Main is undergoing changes. "We have increased partnerships with IT vendors, not only to strategically up‑skill our internal staff on new technologies but also to supplement core talent to accelerate product‑development speed," explains Busbee.

Another recent change is hiring several project managers focused on delivering outcomes for the entire customer base rather than individual clients. "We also changed the key metrics for success; for example, we now value the speed of non‑contact solution releases," Busbee adds. This ensures safe delivery for employees and customers while improving efficiency.

Looking ahead, "I think we will continue to view digital dominance as a source of delivery speed and better decision‑making data sets," Busbee concludes.

Professional Services Demand

Brillio’s CIO and Head of Excellence, Mosesraj R, says the skill configurations his shop needs have shifted after the pandemic. "We need to build resilience, employee connection, and systems that can provide data to people."

He is hiring for four specific roles:

Data skills to build a business‑intelligence platform

Architects to help scale and build resilient engineering automation

Security professionals to improve cyber‑risk management capabilities

Full‑stack engineers to drive higher throughput

Among these groups, architects and security experts are the hardest to find. "We look for the right attitude and teach them our culture. In our team we need people with a product mindset, and over time this strategy helps. For senior, experienced positions we plan to hire for cultural fit and skill enhancement," he explains.

Metis’s Kraus believes the pandemic‑driven shift will last for some time. He predicts, "I don’t think business travel will rebound quickly," although leisure travel is recovering faster. This is especially relevant for professional‑services firms that no longer send experts worldwide in the traditional way but rely on virtual meetings. "They realize they can reach more experts virtually, hold conference calls, and get the same or better advice in a shorter time."

Women Leaving — and Massive PTO

Although remote hiring may help fill some roles faster, Kraus is unsure it will stop the exodus of women from the tech field due to work‑life‑balance concerns. "More and more women knowledge workers are leaving the job market," he says, "and I’m not sure this will reverse as the pandemic winds down."

Women who left full‑time work to help children study at home may return to the workforce in the coming months or fall semester when schools reopen. "A single mother in Idaho may be more qualified for certain positions than anyone else," Kraus notes, "she is now part of the talent pool."

Another interesting issue CIOs will face this year is overdue vacation. While it sounds like a nerdy joke, it is a real problem. Kraus calls it a "major operations and logistics issue." Many IT employees have not taken vacation for over a year since the pandemic began.

"If everyone tries to use their PTO at the same time, it could create a massive coverage nightmare for IT organizations of all sizes," Kraus warns. "There is a huge amount of unused vacation time, and now people will start triggering the expiration of overdue leave."

Source: https://cioctocdo.com/13-most-difficult-fill-it-jobs