Dive Brief:
- For the second year running, recruiters ranked AI as the top developer skill they searched for, according to a HackerRank report released Monday. The company analyzed platform data and surveyed 4,100 developers last fall as part of the study.
- Despite interest in building AI skills within organizations, just 22% of developers say they’re regularly given time for upskilling or learning.
- Developers are three-times more likely than managers to say their companies don't offer upskilling. Nearly half of developers say they have to find time on their own to expand their knowledge.
Dive Insight:
Enterprise AI adoption is expected to drive employment upward this year, as companies deploy new vendor capabilities and build their own.
Deferred IT projects after last year's economic troubles are driving up demand — and these projects can also require AI-adjacent skills such as data analysis and IT infrastructure.
Part of the workforce challenge of deploying AI systems is how quickly the technology has developed, according to Thomas Vick, senior regional director at Robert Half.
"I think people catching up to the systems and learning implementation practicality around them is a gap," Vick told CIO Dive in January. "Upskilling employees and furthering training in those areas is crucial, and it's becoming more crucial by the day as more and more AI and machine learning is implemented."
In search of career growth opportunities, almost three quarters of developers believe upskilling works or mostly works. More than 4 in 5 prefer learning new skills within the context of a work project.
But despite developer interest, implementation of AI in the software lifecycle is still far from widespread. One-quarter of organizations say they've infused the technology into their software creation process, according to GitLab data.
