"Meanwhile, the market for generalist tech skills and roles will most likely remain at flat or see very modest growth, similar to 2025. The traditional staples of the IT workforce - testers, Java developers, routine coders - essentially perform repeatable tasks that are increasingly being outsourced or offshored, or indeed replaced by AI itself (checked and supervised by members of the human team)."
"Against all of this, there remain some significant unknowns. I believe there will come a tipping point around AI, a pivotal moment when, in one or more sectors, an organisation makes a significant breakthrough that enables them to truly supercharge their business. This will spark a domino effect amongst competitors scrambling to keep up, galvanising the tech recruitment market across the piece - somewhat akin to the e-commerce boom of the 90's and 2000's, perhaps. When this will happen is impossible to know: it could be during 2026, or it could be later. But at some stage, the market will shift and shift quickly."
"A key part of an organisation's AI journey is having the talent needed both to develop/deploy it and to actually use it effectively. The fundamental realisation here is that AI is not a whole skillset in itself - rather, it is an add-on to other existing skills (engineering, data, cloud etc). Therefore, it isn't a question of mass-recruitment of 'AI professionals' (who largely don't exist anyway), but rather a case of upskilling and reskilling all the good talent you already have."
Generalist tech roles will likely remain flat or see modest growth as routine IT work—testers, Java developers, and routine coders—is increasingly outsourced, offshored, or replaced by AI (monitored by humans). The US showed increased tech hiring in late 2025, and other economies often follow with around a six‑month lag, potentially improving conditions in 2026. A tipping point could occur when an organisation achieves an AI breakthrough that supercharges its business, prompting competitors to rapidly respond and triggering a swift market shift. Organisations must focus on upskilling and reskilling existing engineering, data, and cloud talent, encouraging safe experimentation and formal and informal AI training.
Read at ComputerWeekly.com
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