After six months of tech layoffs, revaluations, worries about the economy and a looming recession, you would be forgiven for wondering what way to jump if you are considering a job or career change in 2023.

Some job titles appear to be bearing the brunt of layoffs, such as in-house recruiters. At Amazon, the company extended buyout offers to hundreds of its recruiters in November. This was swiftly followed by a leaked memo which suggested that the company has been handing over some of its recruiters’ tasks to an AI technology known internally as Automated Applicant Evaluation (AAE).

The better news is there are many career paths that are considered to be safer bets. In fact around 40 million technical jobs go unfulfilled due to a lack of skilled talent, and software developers are a particular area of high demand. The U.S. Labour Department estimates that the global shortage of software engineers could reach 85.2 million by 2030.

Other jobs with promising futures are those involved with cloud computing, AI or machine learning, cybersecurity, and data science roles.

Why data science?

As a relatively new field, it has seen much broader adoption since applications for artificial intelligence, deep learning, and machine learning became possible in the 2000s.

The use of scientific methods, processes and techniques to extract knowledge from data, data science involves taking information from large datasets, analysing it to identify patterns and trends, and then communicating those findings.

There are many different roles in the field, and data scientists can be employed by a wide range of companies or organisations—from tech firms to healthcare to government agencies—and they typically work with teams of other professionals such as software engineers or statisticians.

This is a career with official sanction. The UK Government Data Science Partnership was formed to help the government realise the potential of data science, and it offers a Data Science Accelerator programme for aspiring data scientists as well as a Data Visualisation Accelerator programme.

The government recognises, as do the tech, industrial, and retail sectors, the power of insights that can be gained from data, and the business decisions that can be made as a result.

The future of data science

With strong growth in jobs in data science, data analysis, and data engineering, a recent report listed Data Engineer as one of the fastest-growing jobs in the UK. There is huge scope for anyone already working in the field, as well as opportunities for those looking at entry level positions.

The field is changing rapidly; data scientists previously focused more on statistics and modelling, but this is changing in favour of coding and AI becoming more essential.

The rise of cloud computing has changed the amount of data being processed too. Now, professionals very often explore relationships within enormous sets of information—often millions or billions of inputs—and coding and machine learning skills are necessary to ensure the correct insights are being gained.

Security too, is a growth area. In the last 12 months, 39% of UK businesses identified a cyberattack, and predictive analytics can be brought into play to help spot trends and threats, and help to prevent attacks, keeping data safe.

If you are looking for a role in the industry, we are highlighting three below. There are many more to discover on the Finextra Job Board.

Specialist, Metrics and Analytics, BNY Mellon

BNY Mellon has established a sustainable cost transparency platform that builds upon the analysis, recommendations, and outcomes of previous work. The Specialist, Metrics and Analytics will deliver and establish the strategy, vision, roadmap, and goals and will ensure standardisation across the organisation to support reliable aggregation of data for actionable enterprise reporting and decision-making.

You will need a Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related discipline, or equivalent work experience, as well as knowledge of Apptio Product Suites, Technology Business Management (TBM) and/or ITIL experience. Find out more about the job here.

Data Science Lead, Accenture

Accenture is seeking its next Data Science Leader to work at The Dock in Dublin. You will shape and steer the pipeline of work, deliver exceptional analytics prototypes to global C-suite clients, and lead your team of data scientists and data designers.

The successful applicant will be curious about data and the stories that hide within it; slicing and dicing it, asking probing questions, and using it to drive valuable outcomes. You will need to be an expert in a relevant field and have strong academic qualifications, plus you'll also be proficient with Python/R and associated data and ML libraries. Get all the details for this job here.

Senior Engineer, Data Engineering, Ripple

Ripple is looking for a Senior Engineer to help build scalable data infrastructure. You will democratise data by developing self-serving and curated data models, and you will design and mentor the data engineers and data ops pods.

You will require five years of experience in data warehousing, and the same in distributed databases such as Bigquery, snowflake, Presto, or Netezza. Additionally, you will need four years of experience in cloud technologies like AWS, GCP and Azure. Apply for the job here.

If you’re looking for your next great role in finance or tech, visit the Finextra Job Board today.