娇色导航

A few short years ago, stressing the need for human intelligence and insight in IT work would seem like something out of science fiction. Yet today’s tech professionals can benefit their organizations and themselves by managing, overseeing, and scaling the work of automated agents.

It’s a truism that technology moves fast, but experts say AI integration in IT is reminiscent of the early days of the internet — where those who adapt excel and those who don’t fall behind.

“Tech leaders are grappling with real uncertainty — not just about whether their teams have the right skills for future technology, but whether they’ll even know what to do with it,” according to a recent of CIOs and CTOs. “Long-term success demands that people and technology evolve together.”

And while automation will take over tasks that were bedrock IT skills, leaders say this shift can create opportunities for those willing to integrate AI, cloud platforms, data analysis, and security to solve problems and innovate.

Hot: Focusing on what humans do best

, senior manager in Deloitte’s Emerging Technology group, says tech pros can lean into AI’s strengths and away from its weaknesses to proactively drive change for their organizations and their careers.

“As AI gets better at the heads-down technical work, the edge shifts to those who can zoom out to translate complexity and navigate ambiguity,” Raskovich says. “People who blend tech fluency with creativity, curiosity, and a knack for storytelling.”

She points to software engineering as an example, where coding skills are important but no longer the only way to get things done.

“With AI code-assist — or copilots — in the mix, what’s rising in importance is the ability to frame a problem, steer a solution, and spot when the machine misses the mark,” she says. “It’s less that entire roles are disappearing, and more that the definition of what makes them valuable is shifting.”

A recent that touches on future roles in IT found that while routine tasks such as code maintenance, network backups, maintaining systems, correcting errors, and updating software are among the most likely to be affected by automation “tasks focused on working with others, including supervision, training, and project discussions will be the least impacted.”

Cold: Chasing every hard skill

IT professionals should avoid trying to master every potential new technology, says Deloitte’s Raskovich, but rather build enough knowledge to ask smart questions and collaborate effectively — with both colleagues across departments and intelligent systems.

“Anything we already know how to do, a computer will eventually do better,” she says. “The more rule-based or pattern-driven a task is, the faster it gets absorbed into the machine domain. In a world where tools evolve by the quarter, trying to master them all is like being on a treadmill you’ll never get off. In today’s landscape, breadth is the new depth.”

Hot: Designing intelligent systems that can adapt

Demand is growing for tech-savvy professionals who can design adaptive, intelligent, and automated architectures, says , 娇色导航at Expereo.

“We’re not just talking about data scientists anymore,” Avelange says. “It’s about engineers, architects, and product owners who can embed AI into platforms, workflows, and user experiences. The people in highest demand can translate complex requirements into modular, scalable solutions. Roles like AI systems engineers, platform architects, and automation strategists are becoming pivotal in every transformation initiative.”

Cold: Traditional code maintenance

, founder and CEO at QueryPal, sees an opportunity for developers to move away from code maintenance and lower-level grunt work toward bigger-picture work.

“Experienced developers describe working with AI as having a junior developer on staff where iterations that once took a week now take minutes to hours. This has created value in roles focused on AI supervision, with many developers seeing themselves as AI orchestrators rather than hands-on coders.”

Meanwhile, a downturn for traditional coding careers is part of this evolution in software engineering, says , 娇色导航at First Student.

“Leading tech companies, including Google, Meta, NVIDIA and others, are already slowing the hiring of software engineering,” McCormack says. “Many companies are expecting AI agents to write 50% or more of production code within the next year or two.”

Hot: Hybrid approaches to security

IT pros with cybersecurity expertise are always in demand, and sophisticated threats have created a need for security pros who can counter with AI to prevent and investigate incidents. As advanced cyberthreats escalate, expertise in cybersecurity and data privacy is more in demand than ever.

, associate dean of IT college programs at the University of Phoenix, says 24/7 protection of sensitive data is becoming increasingly difficult, especially for organizations that haven’t integrated automated means to counter threats.

“Some organizations may even have to sift through millions or even billions of data points, which is not feasible for security analysts to do manually,” he says. “Automated systems can respond to threats without human intervention, isolating compromised devices, stopping harmful processes, or recovering files affected by ransomware without needing anyone to step in.”

Yet automation alone may not offer enough protection in various scenarios, which is where, again, human intelligence comes in.

“A hybrid approach, which leverages manual and automated threat detection, can be very beneficial to organizations as automation may not capture all threats.”

Cold: Manual threat detection

While talent is needed to help organizations stay secure by combining human insight with AI and ML, evolving threats are rendering older protection methods obsolete, Graff explains.

“Traditional signature-based detection methods fail to keep pace with the threats,” he says. “Cyber criminals are using AI tools to launch more sophisticated attacks such as phishing campaigns, and voice or video cloning to impersonate bosses or other trusted individuals.”

Security pros will need to use AI to combat AI — and those who upskill will be rewarded, Graff says.

“The projected job outlook for information security analysts is over the next 10 years,” he says. “And to fill these much-needed positions, employers may be looking for those with AI skills to protect their information and data.”

Hot: Tech utility infielders

Those who can contribute in multiple areas, especially as needs change quickly, are hard to find, says , chief marketing and product officer for StorMagic.

“The days are over when hiring is planned way in advance — knowing exactly what each person will do,” Kornfeld says. “An individual is in lower demand if they are an expert at one thing — front end, UI, cloud, database, mobile — instead of being able to contribute in multiple different disciplines.”

And there’s potential in nimble generalist groups partnered with AI, argues First Student’s McCormack.

“We’re going to start seeing increased demand for those who can navigate across disciplines and integrate capabilities across data, legal, finance, engineering, and marketing,” McCormack says. “In the future, smaller cross-functional teams, supported by AI agents, will be able to deliver outcomes that once required large, siloed departments. I think specialist roles will start to be less critical because AI now offers immediate access to deep domain knowledge.”

Cold: Certain certifications

, vice president of resource management at Verinext, echoes the conventional wisdom that cloud, data, network, infrastructure, and cybersecurity are still areas of great need, but he says one career trend that’s falling out of favor is obtaining certifications for certain cloud skills.

“Basic cloud certifications are losing their edge, as they’ve become the new baseline expectation in the industry,” Contino says.

, chief cloud strategist at Pluralsight, says demand is falling for certifications such as CCNA, ITIL, CompTIA A+, and Network+. He considers them more aligned to traditional IT infrastructure and less relevant today unless paired with cloud or DevOps skills.

Meanwhile, Firment says certifications connected to cloud infrastructure, AI, and architecture are seeing demand. They include AZ-900, AI-900, and AWS Solutions Architect in particular, he says.

“These are foundational for organizations that have already invested in cloud,” he says, “and are now focusing on advanced capabilities like data engineering and AI. These certifications are attractive because they support practical job-role alignment, which benefits both individual learners and enterprise-wide training strategies. Foundational certs still matter, but today’s opportunities are in areas that demonstrate agility, specialization, and a direct tie to modern architectures.”

Hot: Producing AI-enabled products

As organizations look to incorporate AI across their divisions and day-to-day operations, the need for those who can create new products that employ automation will grow.

The PwC survey found that “tech leaders are confident they can deliver on business expectations and innovation priorities, but that confidence falls when [asked] about specific tech transformations. While 60% of CIOs feel very confident they can scale AI across their organizations, only 44% are very confident they can deliver tangible results.”

“Many organizations are looking for candidates who are experts at translating AI capabilities into impactful business applications,” says , CTO at Synechron. “These specialists bridge business needs and AI tools, accelerating AI adoption at scale.”

Deloitte’s Raskovich sees emerging opportunities for those who can shape automation to create things that have never existed before.

“The real career advantage comes from interpreting culture, navigating gray areas, and asking the questions no dataset can answer,” she says. “It’s a shift from being the calculator to being the cartographer — mapping new terrain where data can’t go yet.”

Cold: Tech skills disconnected from business goals

Purely technical roles are becoming less viable, says Expereo’s Avelange. Today, it’s important for technologists to understand the broader impact of their work on their organization.

“It’s no longer enough to just keep the lights on,” Avelange says. “Many routine IT tasks are being automated or outsourced. We’re entering an era where every technology role needs to contribute to transformation, not just operations.”

See also:

• State of IT jobs: Mixed signals, changes ahead
• AI begins to reshape the IT job landscape as layoffs rise
• The rising value of IT certifications