LONDON, November 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Technology is 'eating itself' / Continual skills development key to career success 

Forty five per cent of technology professionals believe a significant part of their job will be automated within ten years, rendering their current skills redundant. The change in technology is so rapid that 94% believe their career would be severely limited if they didn't teach themselves new technical skills.

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This is according to the Harvey Nash Technology Survey 2017, representing the views of more than 3,200 technology professionals from 84 countries.

The chance of automation varies greatly with job role, with Testers and IT Operations professionals most likely to expect their job role to be significantly affected in the next decade (67 per cent and 63 per cent respectively), and CIO/VP IT and Programme Management least affected (31 per cent and 30 per cent respectively).

David Savage, associate director, Harvey Nash UK, commented: "Through automation, it is possible that ten years from now the Technology team will be unrecognisable in today's terms. Even for those roles relatively unaffected directly by automation, there is a major indirect effect - anything up to half of their work colleagues may be machines by 2027." 

In response to automation technology professionals are prioritising learning over any other career development tactics. Self-learning is significantly more important to them than formal training or qualifications; only 12 per cent indicate 'more training' as a key thing they want in their job..

Despite the increase in automation the Survey reveals that technology professionals remain in high demand, with participants receiving at least seven headhunt calls in the last year. Software Engineers and Developers were most in demand, followed by Analytics / Big Data roles.

Simon Hindle, director, Harvey Nash Switzerland, commented: "Technology careers are in a state of flux. On one side technology is 'eating itself', with job roles increasingly being commoditised and automated, on the other side new opportunities are being created.In this rapidly changing world the winners will be the technology professionals who take responsibility for their own skills development, and continually ask: 'where am I adding value that no other person - or machine - can add?'" 

Please see the key highlights from the Harvey Nash Technology Survey 2017 on the full press release here

Contact:

Michelle Smith
Marketing and Digital, Harvey Nash plc
michelle.smith@harveynash.com
+44(0)20-7333-0033

SOURCE Harvey Nash Plc