Want Engineering Work? Try These 15 Hot Jobs for 2021Want Engineering Work? Try These 15 Hot Jobs for 2021

The engineering employment scene shifted this year as AI and other automation disciplines gained traction.

Rob Spiegel

September 1, 2021

15 Slides
Artificial Intelligence Engineers.jpeg

Already have an account?

Adobe Stock

Technology jobs are hot this year. As the pandemic continues through its second year, the engineering profession has come out butter side up. Here are some of the trends we’re seeing that affect the technology job market. The slideshow will show what engineering disciplines are getting the job traction.

This Is the Hottest Tech Job Market Since the Dot Com Era

According to Technically Media, the technology job market dipped in 2020 only to come back in 2021 with a 30% increase in job postings. The company report three major trends:

  • Remote work is here to stay

  • AR/VR will be widely adopted

  • Fewer students are pursuing STEM

While those three forecasts may seem at odds with each other – if tech jobs are hot, why are fewer students pursuing STEM – these trends also match longer trends where manufacturing jobs are plentiful and college students are not interested.

In 2021, Technically Media reports that the average salary increase was around 2.9% in 2020, down from the projected average increase of 3.3% expected at the start of the year. Yet salaries in 2021 are starting to rise as a result of competition.

Sources for this story: New Engineer, LinkedIn, Austin Nichols, CIO, Modis, SmartAsset, Career Karma, SoloPoint Solutions, Palmer Group, Ranstad, CareerExplorer, Forbes, Computer Science Career Hub, PayScale, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Related:13 Engineering Jobs in Top Demand

About the Author

Rob Spiegel

Rob Spiegel serves as a senior editor for Design News. He started with Design News in 2002 as a freelancer covering sustainability issues, including the transistion in electronic components to RoHS compliance. Rob was hired by Design News as senior editor in 2011 to cover automation, manufacturing, 3D printing, robotics, AI, and more.

Prior to his work with Design News, Rob worked as a senior editor for Electronic News and Ecommerce Business. He served as contributing editolr to Automation World for eight years, and he has contributed to Supply Chain Management Review, Logistics Management, Ecommerce Times, and many other trade publications. He is the author of six books on small business and internet commerce, inclluding Net Strategy: Charting the Digital Course for Your Company's Growth.

He has been published in magazines that range from Rolling Stone to True Confessions.

Rob has won a number of awards for his technolloghy coverage, including a Maggy Award for a Design News article on the Jeep Cherokee hacking, and a Launch Team award for Ecommerce Business. Rob has also won awards for his leadership postions in the American Marketing Association and SouthWest Writers.

Before covering technology, Rob spent 10 years as publisher and owner of Chile Pepper Magazine, a national consumer food publication. He has published hundreds of poems and scores of short stories in national publications.

Sign up for Design News newsletters

You May Also Like