If there's one profession that continues to dominate demand in tech hiring, it's cybersecurity.
Demand for cybersecurity staff has skyrocketed since 'remote work' entered the lexicon and businesses doubled down on their digital assets as a means of insuring them against future uncertainty.
While the post-pandemic tech boom has been a blessing for tech-savvy professionals with a knack for anything software related, it has also left companies more exposed than ever to the dangers lurking in cyber space.
As the threats from ransomware, malware and intellectual property theft become all too real for businesses, hiring managers have turned to cybersecurity professionals to keep them safe. The problem is, there are nowhere near enough of them to go around -and many in the cybersecurity biz are beginning to drop out due to stress and burnout.
A number of factors underpin the shortfall of skilled tech talent in the workforce, a big one being the fact that technology now evolves at such an alarming rate it's hard to know what skills will still be applicable in the medium to long term (although coding is generally a safe bet).
But decisions in the C-suite are also stifling businesses' efforts to adequately defend themselves from cyber threats. While leaders absolutely want cybersecurity expertise on their teams, they're not necessarily willing to pay for it. Or, to put it more accurately, they're not willing to pay enough.
Take a recent report by O'Reilly, which found that only a third of HR decision makers in UK tech companies are willing to spend more than