When it comes to in-demand tech jobs, data still rules, and "data engineer" is the sought-after position. According to a breakdown of data from Burning Glass’s Nova platform, which analyzes millions of active job postings, “data engineer” remains the top tech job, enjoying a 101 percent increase in postings over the past twelve months. (Its top ranking remains unchanged from the last time we ran this study at the very end of 2018.) The other ranking jobs on this list, including security management specialist, technology consultant, and database architect, all heavily leverage data. If you want to land a popular job in tech, in other words, you have to learn how to handle and analyze datasets. Actually landing a job as a data engineer takes considerable work. They often wrestle with huge datasets and complex architecture, which in turn demands a variety of skills, including data warehousing, machine learning, and Python programming. Although there are tools that automate many data-engineering functions, data consolidation and warehousing frequently present challenges on a code level. Beyond knowing the tools and databases, data engineers should familiarize themselves with regression analysis and summary statistical techniques. And don’t forget the soft skills: Since they must often communicate complex topics to a variety of stakeholders, including senior executives, data engineers must have the ability to effectively explain things in ways that those without a technology background can easily grasp (they can also end up leading large teams, depending on the size of the company, which is yet another wrinkle). In the long term, it seems likely that demand for data-related jobs will only increase. In 2017, for example, a report from consulting firm McKinsey & Co. suggested a national shortage of as many as 190,000 people with “deep analytical skills” by the end of 2018. As we head deeper into 2019, the high salaries for data-related jobs suggests that companies are still overwhelmingly hungry for tech pros with these skillsets. If you're willing to put in the time becoming a data engineer, there are almost certainly companies anxious to hire you.