The job market is changing very rapidly and young professionals seek a change of pace when they consider their career prospects. We live in a world that has advanced to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the traditional approach of getting a job at the age of 22 and sticking to it for years isn’t effective today. One has to constantly upgrade their skills in order to stay relevant in the future.
Professionals today are looking for more meaningful jobs that can give them job satisfaction. Yet, salary plays an important role and still remains a top priority in their career choice. If you too are looking for a high-paying career in 2021, then this article is for you. Taking reference from LinkedIn’s Most Promising Jobs surveys and the latest Robert Half Salary Guide, we have made a list of the top ten highest-paying jobs that you can consider for your career.
So, let’s get started!
Project Manager
The Project Manager is one of the key pillars of an organization that handles the responsibility of managing complex projects right from the planning phase and brings them to successful completion. Skilled project managers are crucial as they lead and motivate the team to work productively and design high-quality products that align with customer needs. Almost all industrial sectors hire project managers and pay them handsomely.
Credentials like PRINCE2 Certification and PMP certification further enhance the earning potential of project managers.
Average annual salary – $88,834
Data Scientist
This is an emerging job role that has become popular over the past few years and its growth is attributed to disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Data scientists are basically responsible for gathering, cleaning, analyzing, and visualizing data so as to draw actionable insights from it and share them with business leaders. These insights aid the decision-making process and help companies earn huge profits.
Average annual salary – $96,216
Machine Learning Engineer
You may not know but must have witnessed the efforts of machine learning engineers when you see applications like driverless cars, drones, voice assistants, and robots. Machine learning engineers create computer programs that allow machines to ‘learn’ through experience and take actions on their own. At a high level, they build robust and production-ready AI and ML systems, services, and platforms.
The fascinating Google search results or product recommendations on Netflix, Amazon, or YouTube as per your interests are brought to you by powerful ML algorithms working at the backend.
Average annual salary – $112,448
Cloud Architect
Key players like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud have taken cloud computing to the next level. A cloud architect is a professional who converts the technical requirements of a project into the cloud computing architecture that will aid the final product. They help companies mitigate risks, oversee their cloud computing strategy, and ensure a cost-efficient migration to the cloud.
Certifications like AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate, Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect, and Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert are ideal for professionals to demonstrate their skills for a cloud architect role.
Average annual salary – $128,418
Full-Stack Developers
Web development has come a long way and these days companies prefer to hire full-stack developers. The reason is full-stack developers are skilled in both front-end technologies and back-end technologies along with knowledge of databases, i.e., they contribute to the end-to-end software development lifecycle. As such, they can work with client side development – HTML, javaScript, CSS; server-side development – Python, Node.js, Ruby; and programming a database – SQL, MongoDB, MySQL.
Startups and large companies alike are seeking full-stack developers as they are more valuable in addressing both aspects of software development and bridge the disconnect.
Average annual salary – $91,453
Information Systems Security Manager
The growing digital transformation has led to the exposure of a massive amount of data over the internet and has high chances of being exploited by malicious hackers. So, companies are hiring information systems security managers to avoid any possible cybercrime and identify any areas that would make the systems vulnerable to attacks. They support security goals and policies, manage a diverse team of cybersecurity specialists, and oversee the vulnerability audits, mitigation procedures, and forensic investigations.
Certification like the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) offered by ISACA is beneficial for demonstrating your skills in information security governance, program development and management, incident management and risk management.
Average annual salary – $133,249
Big Data Engineer
Another data-related role which can give a huge paycheck is that of a big data engineer. Responsible for building massive big data reservoirs and fault-tolerant distributed systems, big data engineers have a thorough understanding of Hadoop, NoSQL, designing and developing data pipelines, and Apache Spark. Big data is expanding its applications into virtually every industry and the demand for big data engineers isn’t decreasing any time soon. Companies like Flipkart, Amdocs, Accenture, Amazon, Deloitte, and many reputed firms are seeking skilled big data engineers.
Associate Big Data Analyst (ABDA), CCP Data Engineer Certification, and Microsoft’s MCSE- Data Management and Analytics are the top credentials ideal for big data engineers.
Average annual salary – $89,838
Mobile Applications Developer
Today, making websites mobile friendly or even better developing mobile applications has become the need of the hour. As the term suggests, this role refers to professionals who can design, build, and manage mobile applications either on the Android platform or Apple’s iOS platform. For the former, one needs to know Java or Kotlin language while for the latter one needs to be well-versed in Swift or Objective-C.
Apart from the software development skills, one should understand the principles of secure, stable software design, development methodologies like Agile and Scrum, and have basic programming skills.
Average annual salary – $69,303
DevOps Engineer
RedHat defines a DevOps engineer as someone who introduces processes, tools, and methodologies to balance needs throughout the software development life cycle, from coding and deployment to maintenance and updates. As DevOps focuses on increased collaboration between the development team and the IT Operations team, DevOps engineers play a crucial role in combining code and maintaining and managing applications. Similar to a DevOps engineer, a site reliability engineer is also in high demand these days.
Certifications in DevOps or in its related tools like Docker Certified Associate, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional, and Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert are worth achieving.
Average annual salary – $95,161
Data Architect
It is also a senior-level position that requires professionals to design, create, deploy, and maintain a company’s data architecture. They visualize and design enterprise data management framework, translate business requirements into technical requirements, and define data principles and standards. Skilled data architects know how to design data processing models that implement the intended business model.
Average annual salary – $129,779