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Shawn Humphreys
Shawn Humphreys

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2020 Trends in Technology Workforce(so far)

It is hard to imagine that we are more than halfway through the craziest year the world has ever experienced in a long time. Bore this year, it was easy to take the simple things in life for granted such as hugging your loved ones or having a wide variety of available options of toilet paper. This year has quickly changed the new norm for everyone working in the technology industry. Here are some of the new trends to expect for the rest of 2020 and possibly longer.

📇Table of Contents

Remote Work will Now Be Common💻

I have talked to several recruiters through my career search. I have asked each recruiter what were their thoughts about how the pandemic has changed Saint Louis, Missouri in the technology industry. One memorable statement I heard was, "Before this year, all our clients were never interested in hiring for remote work as they prefer to have someone in the office that is local or can be relocated here. Now they are forced to hire remote, until further notice". With great uncertainty of new regulations or number of cases, most businesses are learning to go as remote as possible to avoid potential consequences. No more driving in rush hour traffic or pants that match your shirt!

Demand for Developers Skyrockets🚀

It is hard to imagine that within a matter of weeks, your business can completely shut down if deemed nonessential. While some businesses are performing better than ever, some are in near-collapse due to the pandemic. This could create a rise in jobs for developers and engineers as businesses will be looking to adapt to the current situation and prepare for the next pandemic in the future. Higher demand for developers could also increase salaries to retain current employees.

Emphasis to Sanitation😷

As we were always reminded to wash your hands before returning to work, now there will be greater importance to cleaning. More companies will be implanting new cleaning routines as precations for employees returning to the office. There could even be possible training on cleanliness if your company already does not have one on standby.

Employee Tracking Software In Your Work(or even personal) Laptop🔍

As more companies are adjusting to their employees going remote, the biggest difference in remote work is that employers are unaware of what are their employees doing during company time. The demand for tools to conveniently monitor their company has caused an increase in revenue for employee tracking software. Employee tracking software enables employers to track their current employees and their productivity by taking random webcam pictures, taking random screenshots, track keystrokes, and even flag certain keywords that have been typed. 🔖This article from CNBC explains more about the rise of employee tracking software.

Thank You

What trends have you noticed that I didn't mention? Are you currently experiencing any of these trends? Comment below and let me know or leave a ❤️ if you enjoyed this article! Be sure to check out some of my other articles as well!

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Oldest comments (3)

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mattschwartz profile image
Matthew Schwartz

I would refuse to work for a company that performs that level of employee tracking. I'm senior enough where I would have that freedom to choose. I do not want to work for a company that does not trust the people they hire.

I'm a manager. What matters to me is that work gets done. If I assign work and projects are complete on schedule I don't care if you play video games the rest of the week. It's my job to use my team's time efficiently and fill it with the appropriate amount of work. If I don't get the results I expect then I know something is wrong. I don't need (or want) cameras and keyboard loggers to check my developers are coding.

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mrshawnhum profile image
Shawn Humphreys

Spot on! Trust your employees and there wouldn't be a need to monitor your employees.

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margo_hdb profile image
Margo McCabe

Interesting post! I've seen a lot of back and forth debate about whether remote work is here to stay. While it's good for companies to remain flexible, remote work might cause a decrease in productivity and communication, at least for more team-oriented or collaborative environments. I'm very curious to see what will happen here in the future!