The Digital Transformation Produces Higher Demand for Technology Talent

By Olivia

In 2020， the sudden outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic led to the early arrival of the digital era. Chinas digital transformation was fully implemented， with more and more SMEs， local companies and traditional companies getting involved.

Digital transformation represents a new way of development for enterprises， and is also a key factor to the improvement in the return on corporate investment. According to 2021 Talent Trends and Salary Guide， there are four types of talent needed most in the market： technology， data， organizational reform and procedure. Technology and data constitute the basis of the digital transformation. More and more emerging technologies require technology talent to develop their skills theoretical analysis to real-world practice. This talent also plays a key role in the application of technologies in digital transformation scenarios and the solution to technical issues. At the sane time， the market widely demands data talent to deal with the huge amount of data.

At present， digital talentis mainly concentrated in ICT （information and communications technology） industries， working in Internet and information communication. The medical， manufacturing， finance， retail and some other traditional industries also have a good foundation of talent. Regarding the source of talent， computer science， software engineer， electrical and electronic engineering are the main contributors of digital talents. The business administration sector is also increasingly becoming an importance source of digital talents.

With the advancement of the digital transformation， more and more enterprises are choosing an internet-oriented human resources structure and strategy， leading to the surge of demand for digital talent.

Salary of the big data industry keeps rising

According to the Talent Trends and Salary Guide， salary levels in the big data industry are rising by between 10% and 40%. Salaries for data scientists have seen the largest increase， and salaries for data development engineers and data warehouses are relatively stable.

The overall salary of the cloudcomputing sector has risen by 10%-20% and the salary increase as a result of changing jobs ranges from 10% to 40%. R&D positions saw a salary increase of 10%-30%， and product and pre-sale positions saw an increase in salaries of 20%-40%.

The gap in AIoT talents is huge， especially for those talent mastering both AI and IoT technologies. The talent market lacks systematic development of AIoT talent. The roles of AIoT are always performed by cloud computing or internet platform talent， and the demand for talent in these two sectors rose strongly. Also， technical positions related to AI， data and hardware saw salaries increase at a normal level.

The overall salary of the chip in- dustry showed a slight upward trend this year， which is mainly due to the fierce competition for talent and talent poaching by enterprises in the hightech sector. But in the long run， the space for salary of chip talent to increase is limited. Except for some VPs or high management， the salary increases are relatively low for the whole enterprise， which is a pain point for the chip talent recruitment.

As a hot sector， the digital transformation has led to evident salary growth for digital talent. Operation， strategy and technology managers will receive a pay rise of 40% or more if they change jobs.

Big data： deep learning， data product manager and algorithm engineering as main types of talent

From the perspective of technological systems， big data technology has matured with regards tostorage， analysis， presentation and application of data. However， from the perspective of the data industry chain， the current industry chain of big data is far from mature. The application scenarios of big data are also still in the initial stages， and there is still a lot of space for development for many enterprises in this field.

With the implementation of a big data strategy by the national government， the big data industry has also been growing rapidly， however， the application of big data in industries is a systematic and complex process. The strong needs for data application also boosted demand for talentin related positions. Meanwhile， with the increasing importance of data for enterprises， the corporate demand for data security will continue to rise.

Nowadays， almost all industries are embracing big data technology and have strong demand for big data talent. Regarding the types of talent， these specifically include deep learning， data product managers and algorithm engineering. All major big data product and service providers have set up job positions related to big data， based on product characteristics and structure. There are 9 types of job positions： big data operation and maintenance engineers， big data platform R&D engineers， big data cloud R&D engineers， big data front-end application development engineers， big data architects， big data analysts， data mining engineers， algorithm engineers and big data visualization engineers. Regarding regional distribution of talent， most big data industries are concentrated in North and East China， including cities like Beijing， Shanghai and Shenzhen. Most of these talent are working in the internet sector.

Cloud Computing： an urgent need for interdisciplinary talent who understand cloud computing technology and management

In 2021 cloud technology has become the basis for business transition and IT infrastructural upgrading. As the application of cloud technology becomes more frequently used in the business world， BAT， Huawei and Inspur have been increasing investment into B businesses of the cloud computing market. Local governments have also issued favorable policies to support companies to adopt cloud technologies， and the cloud computing market has huge potential for growth in the future.

There are many kinds of cloud computing services. With the development of cloud computing， the scope of cloud computing is becoming much wider， especially since AI （Artificial intelligence） has become an important part of cloud computing. The key demands of the cloud computing industry are concentrated in basic technologies， such as cloud storage， automatic operation and maintenance and security. The whole industry is characterized by“cloud+industry”. At the moment， active sectors include smart retail， big government （smart city）， finance and the medical field.

Regarding the types of positions， positions with an urgent need for talent include cloud computing architects， back-end and front-end development engineers， operation and maintenance engineers， and more. At present， cloud technology is still constantly upgrading and changes， and talent oversupply has not yet occurred. From the perspective of talent demand， core technology talenthas become scarce resources， and enterprises have been attaching great importance to the technical ability and experiences of job seekers when recruiting.

With the continuous expansion of the cloud computing market， especially the rapid growth of cloud computing business of leading enterprises， the cloud computing providers need to build more data centers to meet business needs； as the container technology is widely applied， SaaS （software as a service） services have become more personalized and customized， which brings new demand for talent. On top of this， as enterprise management software becomes more intelligent， software talentis needed to promote the transition of traditional corporate IT to cloud computing. The massive computing power of cloud computing and the AI intelligence are intermingling to be applied in enterprises of many sectors. Enterprises have increasing demand for talent who understand cloud computing technology and have cloud computing management skills.

AIoT： demand for AI talent keeps rising

This year， due to the Covid-19 pandemic and new infrastructure policy， 5G and AIoT have continued to grow by leaps and bounds. There are now four types of companies in Chinas AIoT market： cloud computing companies， AI companies， SI companies and IoT companies. These four types of enterprises both compete and cooperate with each other. Take the representative company Aliyun for example， this year Aliyun launched the “Fortress Plan”to expand coverage of Aliyun business in corporate IoT platforms； Megvii invested RMB 2 billion to build a comprehensive solution for the robot industry with its partners； and Xiaomi proposed to invest at least RMB 50 billion into the 5G+AIoT sector in the next 5 years. With the development of the industry， more giant companies will concentrate on the AIoT sector and market competition will become more fierce.

The regional distribution of companies is different from the internet industry in its early stages. The high concentration in first-tier cities like Beijing， Shanghai and Shenzhen has not happened. On the contrary， the regional distribution is quite balanced in the country， thanks to the national policies and local government policies to stimulate the economy； companies can be found in the Yangtze River Delta， the Pearl River Delta and inland cities.

In the future， AIoT will play an increasingly important role in all aspects of the intelligence field， including mobile phone， home， city， transportation， etc. Regarding demand for talent， the demand for AI talent with innovation and practice abilities is rising sharply. As the IoT has realized the market needs more personalized and customized products， product developers will become key talent for the rapid development of the industry.

Regarding the trend of positions， there will be a huge demand for tech- nology application talentin the area of AI， autopilot and 5G. As chipsare the core technology for both autopilot and 5G， AI chip talent has gotten more attention and are popular on the job market.

In recent years， with the rapid development of the IC （integrated circuit） industry， market demand for IC-related talent has also been increasing rapidly. According to data， it is estimated that in approximately 2022， there will be a demand of 744，500 talent in the IC industry. Although the number of employees will increase year by year， the supply of professional R&D talent will be still in short supply.

The IC talent distribution corresponds with that of Chinas IC industry distribution， which is mainly concentrated in several key areas： first， Beijing， Shanghai and Shenzhen lead the country in terms of the IC industry and constitute the first-tier team of talent. Xian， Chengdu， Tianjin， Guangzhou， Suzhou， Wuhan and Nanjing are also major regions where IC talent is concentrated.

With the increase of college enrollment and the introduction of a number of favorable policies for the chip industry by the national government， the number of employees in the chip industry has been increasing year by year. However， in terms of talent quality， normal universities lack the educational resources of first-class universities and find it difficult to catch up with the chip industry development and nurture high-level talent. Regarding salary levels， although in recent years the average salary of the industry has been rising， theirsalary is still less competitive than that ofthe Internet industry. Regarding longterm development of the industry， all parties need to urgently work together and provide more favorable policies in talent nurturing and development.