Top 10 hot growth areas in the digital jobs sector in 2012

By Amy @BubbleJobs

It’s no secret that the digital jobs sector is growing at an incredible rate of knots. With the world and his wife now online, everything else has to be online too, which means web developers, online sales teams and graphic designers have never been more in demand.

While we all know that the digital sector is growing fast and we should all probably get involved, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to kick-starting a career in the digital sector. Luckily Bubble Jobs is here to help!

If you’ve never heard of us, allow us to introduce ourselves. We’re one of the UK’s leading online job boards which specialises in advertising the latest digital, online, web, e-commerce and internet marketing vacancies. Now, handling hundreds of job vacancies week in week out, it’s fair to say that we’ve got our finger on the pulse when it comes to digital jobs.

We know what’s hot and what’s not and we’re also pretty great at spotting trends within the overall digital sphere. As we’re well over half way through the year, we thought it’d be a good idea to bring a round-up of the top 10 hot growth areas in the digital sector in 2012 so far – you never know, it might even give you a good starting point to give that digital career you’ve been longing for a go.

1. Online Security: LinkedIn, Sony and the US Senate are just a handful of the major sites that got hacked over the last year or so, so it should come as no surprise that the demand for online security specialists has grown phenomenally in the last 12 months. Thanks to viruses, bugs and hacks becoming more advanced with every day

that passes, online security is definitely a hot growth area in the digital sector which makes it a great option for anyone with an analytical mind that relishes a challenge.

2. Unix: Never heard of Unix? It’s time to get acquainted! Unix is a multi-user, multi-tasking operating system which is used in servers, work stations and mobile devices all over the world. From Ubuntu Linux to BSD Unix, Unix is available in various forms and is incredibly popular in academic circles because its design makes it easy to share documents between groups. Over the last few years Unix has soared in popularity and it doesn’t look like it’s about to slow down any time soon.

3. CRM: Thanks to an influx of e-commerce sites and systems, CRM managers are majorly in demand at the moment because Customer Relationship Management is now more important than ever. With a sensitive economy, it’s fair to say that every customer counts – this is where CRM Managers come in. Their job is to make sure you hang on to existing customers and bring in some new ones. Sound simple? Think again! With an unbelievable amount of pressure on them and a complicated CRM system to get their head around, CRM Managers play a vital role in the development of any online company.

4. PHP: PHP (or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is fast becoming one of the most popular open source scripting languages around thanks to its versatile design and ease of use. Compatible with databases like Oracle and MySQL, PHP works with almost any server and can be used to create dynamic web pages, which means it’s often the language of choice for the best web developers and programmers in the world. If you’re looking to get into web development, PHP could definitely be the way to go!

5. Social Media: Next up, and this should come as no surprise, it’s social media. Yep, with the influx of new networks like Pinterest, Instagram and Google+ and the Penguin backlash against spammy web links, getting the word out via social media channels is now more important than ever. Over the last 12 months or so,

companies have finally cottoned onto the fact that if they want to be successful online, they need to have an effective social media presence/strategy – cue an overwhelming demand for social media managers and executives!

6. Mobile Apps: Just like social media, it should come as no surprise that mobile apps are a pretty hot growth area in the digital jobs sector at the moment. From gaming apps to health care apps, mobile apps are big business (especially when there’s a fee attached) which means that demand for mobile apps developers has gone through the roof in the last year or so. Blackberry, Android, iPad/iPhone – if you can develop an app for all the major platforms, it’s a good bet you won’t struggle for work in the next 5 years or so.

7. Research/Insights: Whatever line of business you’re in, it’s important to stay one step ahead of the competition and this is where Research/Insights Analysts come in. Although they don’t actually possess any psychic powers, these guys are employed to understand what customers want both now and in the future so you can prepare and put together an effective strategy. Fancy a job where your input could change the direction of the whole company? Research/Insights could be a great place to start.

8. Test & Release: When it comes to software, it’s pretty important to get it spot-on before any updates are released to the public – enter the Test & Release specialists. As you’ve probably guessed, Test & Release Executives are responsible for making sure software works at every point in the process, is free from bugs and malicious viruses and is generally just fit for general release. Although this job can be quite complicated, it can also be highly rewarding, particularly when it comes to duelling with the in-house web developers!

9. SEO: Thanks to the release of pesky animal-themed updates Penguin and Panda, SEO has been far from easy over the last 12 months or so and companies are now more in need of a professional, experienced SEO that can join their in-house team than ever before. Yep, we’re never short of SEO jobs on Bubble but over the last 6 months, we’ve seen a massive influx of new vacancies advertised as businesses realise the old SEO lark is actually much more complicated than just paying an external agency a couple of hundred pounds a month to build some backlinks.

10. UX: Last but by no means least we have UX or User Experience jobs. UX designers are responsible for ensuring your website is easy to use and provides an effective user experience from start to finish – no easy feat! From colours to the size and shape of buttons, even the tiniest aspects of your site design can impact your conversion potential and user experience – it’s the UX designer’s jobs to make sure it’s as effective as possible and gives you the best possible ROI.