Which industries posted the most openings for technologists in February?

According to the latest breakdown of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data by CompTIA, the demand for technologists was greatest within professional, scientific, and technical services. Finance and insurance came in second, followed by manufacturing and information. Here’s the full chart:

What kinds of technologists do those industries want? Software developers/engineers saw the most job openings last month (113,203, up 19,719 from January), followed by IT support specialist (24,687 postings, up 305 from January), IT project manager (23,621 postings, up 2,608 from January), network engineer/architect (20,208 postings, up 3,863 from January), and systems engineer/architect (19,149 postings, up 4,250 from January). 

CompTIA’s findings are backed by other datasets. A recent Dice analysis of data from Emsi Burning Glass, which collects and analyzes millions of job postings from across the country, found that software developer/engineer was the role with the most job postings over the past 60 days, followed by project manager, network engineer/architect, systems engineer, and program manager.  

Based on these datasets, it’s clear that companies need a range of technologists who can do everything from build apps to maintain internal tech stacks. If you’re currently on the job market, keep in mind that most interviewers will likely ask you technical and/or coding questions of some sort; you can prepare via sites such as LeetCode, HackerRank, and Codecademy, which will let you evaluate your skills and get a sense of the questions that interviewers will ask. "Soft skills" such as empathy and communication are likewise vital, since technologists must communicate frequently with stakeholders throughout their organization, including those who might not know anything about the technology issues at hand.