The Bright Side Of The Labor Market: Coding

At first glance, the labor market looks dour for many Millennials and Generation Z. In a 2015 report by McKinsey, the International Labour Organization estimates that 73.4 million people aged 15-24 are jobless. At the same time there seem to be job vacancies, particularly in tech:

• Eight out of the 25 top jobs in America are tech positions (Glassdoor, 2016).
• According to Burning glass, a labor market analytics firm, 7 million job openings in 2015 required coding skills. They also found that programming jobs are growing 12% faster than the market average.
• Salary wise, jobs requiring coding skills pay up to $22,000 per year more than non-tech jobs (Burning Glass).
• Finally, coding reaps work-life balance benefits. According to a 2015 report by Glassdoor, six of the 10 top jobs offering greater work-life balance are in tech.

Think you need to be a computer nerd donned out with a pocket protector to get these jobs? Think again. Half of all tech jobs are outside the "tech" industry. Many are in areas such as healthcare, finance, medicine and more. Hybrid industries, such as AdTech and FashionTech have been growing.  Technology knowledge will bring career benefits regardless of the industry you choose to be in.  With the proliferation of coding schools and online courses picking up technology skills has never been easier.  At Byte Academy, for instance, individuals with no prior coding experience will graduate as Python fullstack developers in only twelve weeks, and, be hired into such roles.

Liked what you read? Checkout Byte Academy's Software Development and Intro to Python courses.