Case Studies

The hiring push for data engineering talent has been picking up steam in 2022, but what other trends are happening in the market? What types of roles are the most in-demand? What is the latest news on WFH/hybrid/remote work?As an update to our 2021 predictions and market trends to watch for data engineering, we spoke with Burtch Works’ data engineering recruiting team to get a sense for how these conversations have continued to evolve over the past year or so.

2022 Data Engineering Market Trends

Hybrid roles continue to dominate the market

There are a variety of roles we’ve seen that blend skillsets from both data engineering and data science, including Data Science Engineer, ML Engineer, and Analytics Engineer, among others. Last year we wrote about the nuances between these different roles, and in 2022 we continue to see them rising in popularity. Unfortunately, these blended skillsets can sometimes be difficult to find, and can decrease the potential talent pool for employers and increase the time needed to hire the right fit.We’re especially seeing an growing need for Analytics Engineers due to the increase in cloud platforms, with many companies adding these types of roles to their teams. We’ve fielded a number of requests for this particular type of talent, and expect that we’ll likely see more as the year progresses.

More companies open to contract-to-hire for data engineering positions

In such a tight market, we’ve seen more companies considering different ways to get talent in quickly to address their needs. We’ve seen some using CTH, while others have been hiring contractors to fill openings temporarily while continuing to source for permanent hires.

Disconnect between employers and data engineers about in-office vs. remote work

As we pointed out in our previous blog about impacts from the Great Resignation, many have noticed that there is at times a discrepancy between employers and data engineering talent about the ideal arrangement for in-person vs. remote working. Especially more recently, we’re seeing more employers requiring their teams to come back into the office at least on a hybrid basis, but many on the job market are still more interested remote positions, since this is what they may have become accustomed to over the past two years or so. In fact, our data suggests that most employers still want employees who can work in the office at least some of the time.

In-demand skills, tools, and industries

When we asked our team to share anecdotally what skills and tools they’ve been seeing more requests for, a few different tools were mentioned: Databricks and PowerBI (visualization continues to be key), and then of course Snowflake, which was rising in importance last year.Our team also pointed out an increase in recruiting needs with a number of consulting clients, which could potentially be related to the tight market that we pointed out in #2 – if teams are struggling to fill their own hiring needs quickly enough, they may find it easier to rely on outside vendors to fill their needs.

More companies shifting towards real-time streaming data

Alongside the widespread shift to the cloud and many companies pushing forward with evolving their technology as a result, we’re also starting to see more companies making a concerted effort to shift over to real-time streaming data. This can be especially crucial for certain business use cases and more accurate decision-making, and while this transition has been happening for some time, it seems to be picking up more steam lately.Hiring data engineering talent for your team? Check out our latest post on how data teams can reduce impacts from the Great Resignation to hire (and retain) the talent you need.