When most people hit the job market, they usually search for the title of the position they wish to land. Job seekers—tech workers especially—also search for roles that match a particular skill or certification they have. Tech workers use an ever-evolving set of tools and software, and with some analysis of the search terms they use, we can highlight the skills becoming more popular in tech job searches.
To identify tech workers, we use the job titles listed on their resumes. The search terms growing fastest among tech workers looking for jobs in Canada from the start of 2017 to the start of this year feature old and new tech job titles, as well as a range of specific skills.
At the top of the list is ‘C# developer,’ which involves one of the most widely used programming languages. ‘Linux,’ an open-source operating system, and the more general term ‘programmer,’ which could cover nearly any language or platform, register as second and third respectively.
Interestingly, employer demand for many of the roles and skills on the search term list is not on the rise. For instance, the share of postings with C# developer in the title has dropped 9% over the same period. What that means is that job seekers and employers may not always be aligned on the titles and skills they are interested in.
Rounding out the rest of the top ten is a mix of operating systems, such as ‘iOS’ and ‘Android developer,’ traditional tech roles like ‘IT technical support,’ and ‘data scientist’—a relatively new role gaining steam with both job seekers and employers.
Methodology
This analysis compares job search and posting activity from the first two months of 2018 with activity during the same period in 2017 to uncover changes in tech search patterns. The research focuses on job seekers who have previously worked or currently work in tech. We identify tech job seekers as those who list on their resumes one of over 300 job titles that we define as tech roles. Searches and postings are represented as a share of all searches or postings respectively to account for changes on Indeed’s site over time.
