Digital/IT & Tech Skills
Digital technologies have revolutionised almost every aspect of our lives in recent years – changing the way we work, shop, socialise, and go to college or school. This progression accelerated during the pandemic when public, private and voluntary sector organisations moved services online at a pace never seen before and more people than ever took up digital services. We now live in a digital world.
Facts & Figures
The West of England has a strong, internationally recognised digital ecosystem which benefits from being one of the biggest tech hubs in the country and the largest tech workforce in the South West. Digital skills and jobs will continue to grow and becoming more wide-ranging as industries continue to realise the benefits these technologies can create.
Whether you are looking to start a new career, upskill your current role to incorporate digital skills, or advance the digital and tech skills you have, there are a variety of ways to get involved in this growing sector.
Career Opportunities
Programmers and software development employees design, test, develop, implement and maintain software and software systems in order to meet the objectives and specifications of the information system; they also develop and design specialist software. Examples of roles in this space include:
- Software development technician
- Digital accessibility specialist
- Digital user experience
- Gaming audio engineer
- Software tester
Networking and Cloud Infrastructure professionals build, manage and maintain the network or cloud platform IT infrastructure in which some or all of an organisation’s network capabilities and resources are hosted. Examples of roles in this space include:
- Cyber security technician
- Cyber security technologist - Cyber Defend & Respond
- Cyber security technical professional
Analytics is the process of discovering, interpreting, and communicating significant patterns in data. Business analytics focuses on using insights derived from data to make more informed decisions that will help organizations reduce costs, increase sales, and other business improvements. Examples of roles in this space include:
- Data analyst technician
- Business Analyst
- Data engineer
- Digital forensic technician
- Data scientist
- Machine learning engineer
Cyber security employees are responsible for protecting their company's data and information from attacks by viruses, hackers, or other cyber threats. These professionals typically work in teams with other IT specialists, such as programmers or software developers. Examples of roles in this space include:
- Cyber security technician
- Cyber intrusion analyst
- Cyber security technical professional
Professionals that work in games and animation focus on creation and development of ideas, stories, animation, sound and all other elements needed within the game or animation. Video games and animation are changing rapidly as technology advances, so creating a well-animated sequence requires both knowledge of computers and their developments and artistic talent. Examples of roles in this space include:
- Games designer
- Gaming audio engineer
- Video games quality assurance technician
- Creative digital design professional
- Game programmer
Top skills requested by employers
Skills for Digital/IT & Tech Skills jobs can be split between ‘general’ skills and ‘specialist’ skill. General are transferrable between sectors and sought by most employers, whilst specialist skills are more focused on the sector.
- Communications
- Management
- Innovation
- Infrastructure
- Problem Solving
- Customer Service
- Integration
- Leadership
- Planning
- Operations
- Agile Methodology
- JavaScript
- SQL (Programming Language)
- Software Engineering
- Amazon Web Services
- Software Development (Generic)
- Python (Programming Language)
- Microsoft Azure
- C# (Programming Language)
- Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
Further information
For further information about the Combined Authority’s approach to Digital, IT/Tech skills visit the West of England - Digital Transformation Plan.