The tech and recruitment trends you need to watch out for in 2023

We have seen growth and innovation throughout 2022. In deep tech, there continues to be significantly more investment, support for start-ups and spin-outs and ten times more privately held startup companies valued at over US$1 billion than a decade ago.

As technology evolves quickly, there continue to be more specialist skills to achieve the ideas and innovations coming out of the industry.

In 2023, we anticipate businesses to build a diverse team with specialist skills and talent, which will help them grow quicker and faster than before.

Here are five of the top specialist skills tech leaders will be after in 2023.

ML & AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been the buzzword of the year and its certainly kicked off massively in 2023, and with 87% of businesses committed to using AI to improve their business, there is no doubt it is the future. Those who have the skills to not just work with big data but can use it to understand it and make it worthwhile for machine learning and AI will be considered an asset. Businesses with data at the core of their functions to optimise ML & AI for their operations will prioritise this for 2023.

Blockchain

Web3 is coming, and for businesses to be successful, they need to start having blockchain skills in-house now. Blockchain delivers the distributed ledger architecture, which threads together the web3 infrastructure. With things like decentralised finance, companies will want to make the most of the potential and require specialist skills to drive a business forward in the new digital era.

Web3

The move to a decentralised model for the web continues to move forward. And, with the likes of Warner Music Group announcing its partnership with Polygon, one of the foremost blockchains in the smart contract and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) space and platform builder LGND.io to build a first-of-its-kind web3 music platform, things are moving more rapidly than you might think.

Web3 talent is still rare, so being able to bring web3 talent into your business will give you a competitive edge. In 2023 we will see a lot more companies looking to be “the first of its kind” on web3; expect the demand for this talent to rise.

Rust Programming Language Skills

Rust is a modern programming language which is a multi-paradigm, general-purpose programming language. While it works similarly to C/C++, Rust has some innovative features which are made it extremely popular since its launch. These include the prevention of memory safety issues, a leading cause of most software security vulnerabilities and unexpected program behaviour. While this is a significant language change, the approach is one that businesses believe needs investment. We expect this requirement to be asked for more throughout 2023.

DevSecOps

Teams are expanding in DevOps, and where this function in the past may have been handled by less technical staff or sometimes sporadically throughout businesses, the depth of securities and the complexities of its practices will see more requirements for technical and skilled talent. The changing landscape means that security-centric practices will become more critical.

How does all this affect recruitment agencies attracting top tech talent?

Flexibility will be a candidate priority. Candidate motivators have changed since the pandemic, with priorities now more about things like flexible working and remote work. Companies that offer a good work/life balance will attract far more candidates than those that offer a pool table in the office, a fancy coffee machine, and free drinks Fridays.

It’s clear that flexibility is what employers need to be offering in order to attract talented candidates in 2023, whether that’s in terms of hours, location or contract type.

Recruiters will become strategic advisors

Recruitment agencies need to be offering far more than a transactional service, transitioning their offering into total talent solutions whereby the recruiter acts as a strategic advisor and takes a far broader view of a client’s talent needs. Clients will begin to choose recruiters that think about the work that needs to be done rather than the body that needs to be hired.

There is now an opportunity to work out how to solve an entire talent problem rather than how individual roles can be filled. What people really want in times such as these is information and advice to make important decisions and that is where recruiters will prove their value. Those that take the pulse of the marketplace for both clients and candidates, that can advise with authority, will shine.