6 hot networking and data center skills for 2024

Many enterprise IT execs plan to enhance their network and data center infrastructures, particularly in areas of sustainability, energy efficiency, hybrid cloud, and cybersecurity, in 2024. They may find themselves stymied, however, by a lack of trained professionals capable of doing the work.

“We remain in a skills crisis,” says Paul Delory, research vice president at Gartner. “We’ve been in one for several years, and it has not abated. Lack of skills remains the biggest barrier to infrastructure modernization initiatives.” He adds that organizations struggling to hire outside talent to fill these skills gaps should prioritize efforts to train internal staffers to take on these roles.

For network and data center professionals, or those aspiring to careers in these areas, this is a time of opportunity. Here are six of the network and data center skills expected to be in high demand in the coming year.

1. Cloud platforms and services

The cloud continues to be a high priority in the IT strategies of most organizations. A recent Gartner report predicts that worldwide spending on public cloud services will grow 20% to $678.8 billion in 2024, up from $563.6 billion in 2023. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) is expected to grow even faster, at 27%.

A key trend driving cloud spending is the ongoing rise of industry cloud platforms, which Gartner says address industry-relevant business outcomes by combining software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and IaaS services into a single offering with composable capabilities. By 2027, Gartner predicts, more than 70% of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business initiatives, up from less than 15% in 2023.

While organizations are moving more workloads to the cloud, there will still be many applications that remain on-premises. “More and more data centers are deployed as private cloud environments, and it is a common practice for enterprises to operate hybrid public/private cloud environments that blend public cloud services with private cloud data centers,” says Mark Leary, research director for network analytics and automation at IDC.

“This hybrid approach is further complicated by multicloud environments which are growing increasing popular, owing to financial and technical advantages,” Leary says. “On the networking side, with hybrid and multicloud environments becoming so prevalent, cloud connectivity and the requirements for managing these connections are rising to be table stakes for the networking staff. Without cloud skills, data center and networking staff are moving down in value these days.”

Thomas Vick, technology hiring and consulting expert at human resource consulting firm Robert Half, adds that organizations are looking for IT staffers who have experience with cloud platforms. Some of the key cloud computing skills needed include cloud security; programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, ASP.NET, Ruby and Golang; multi-platform cloud deployment and migration; and network management.

In addition, IT professionals will need to have a strong understanding of the services offered by the three major cloud providers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google.

2. Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation

Use cases for AI, and generative AI in particular, are growing at a rapid rate, and there is clearly a place for these technologies in networks and data centers. For instance, predictive analytics powered by AI can be used to automate operations and improve resource management within data centers. And AI can help improve data center security via real-time anomaly detection, data protection, and proactive threat identification.

“The current rage in AI technology is more than just a fad,” Leary says. “It is delivering real measurable benefits to IT organizations and the businesses they serve. And there is no sign of slowdown on the horizon. Driven by pressing capacities and costs, physical data center designs are changing significantly” with generative AI.

Organizations need IT staffers who can help assure that generative AI is provided the data, data processing, and data exchanges needed to deliver on its promise, Leary says.

Skills associated with AI development, such as large language model buildout and care, as well as data management, are attractive ones for use both inside and outside the data center, Leary says.

Next year could see the rollout of networking hardware at cloud service providers and in enterprise datacenters that is optimized for generative AI workloads, according to Vijay Bhagavath, research vice president, cloud and data center networks, at IDC.

Enterprises are looking to automate as many data center functions as possible, such as managing and provisioning resources, monitoring performance and identifying security threats. As a result, skills related to data center automation will be in high demand.

“Combine the criticality and complexity of both data centers and networks with the ongoing staff shortages and budgetary pressures presented to organizations of all regions, industries, and sizes, [and] IT automation is a top-rated strategic priority for C-level executives,” Leary says. “As such, staff that are able to advance development and enhance governance of automated solutions are highly valued,” Leary adds. “They save their organization money, reduce risks, bolster IT service integrity and capabilities, and promote digital innovation.”

3. Network security

Knowledge about cyber security products and services—as well as the threats they guard against—never go out of fashion. Organizations are facing a barrage of threats against their networks and data centers, so finding people with related skills remains a high priority.

“Companies are constantly having to pay attention to their security as more and more cyber attacks happen,” Vick says. “That is something that is not slowing down, so they are having to update their firewalls and other security features.”

Enterprises are building out their security teams, in some cases looking for people to update their security posture with a variety of technologies. “Vulnerability management is a role that we have seen become more and more prevalent within organizations,” Vick adds.

Even as companies bolster their security, “threats are advancing in numbers, sophistication, and severity,” according to Leary. “Networks represent a primary conduit for threats, and data centers represent a principal target. Staff members across all IT disciplines (including development, networking, and support), should have a ‘minor’ or even a ‘double major’ in security. This is extremely valuable to their organization, their peers, and their own advancement.”

Unfortunately, the defenses that worked well in the past might no longer be sufficient for modern infrastructures. “Security is too important to just rely on the firewall to keep you secure,” says Darrin Thomason, a vice president and solution architect at Arista Networks. “The modern professional needs to understand the different observability capabilities along with threat mitigation options that will help reduce the attack surface from a security standpoint,” Thomason says. These might include tools that prevent an infiltration in one network segment from spreading to another area.

4. Proactive and holistic infrastructure management

The ability to solve problems, mitigate threats, deploy systems, and monitor services are all good tactical skills to have, Leary says. “However, IDC research shows that proactive infrastructure management skills are as or more valuable to IT organizations as traditional tactical maintenance, repair, and operations skills,” he says.

Staff members that enable networks and data centers to avoid problems, prevent attacks, optimize resources, model innovations, and adapt readily drive a more resilient and responsive digital infrastructure, Leary says.

Holistic management is also important. “In today’s hyper-connected digital business environment, the technology infrastructure must be designed, developed, operated, secured, and evolved as a concert—not as a siloed collection of piece parts,” Leary says. “The whole must exceed the sum of the parts.”

Staffers that serve to solidify just one siloed technology domain do not serve the greater IT good, “and certainly do not serve the worker, customer, or smart device whose experience depends on the infrastructure working unison,” Leary says.

Skills related to managing end-to-end performance for digital experience, integrating management tools for network and security observability, and collecting and sharing infrastructure intelligence for network or application data, for example, are useful in delivering concerted IT outcomes, Leary says.

5. Network design/architecture and hardware

Organizations need to be able to design or redesign their networks as they grow or contract. They need people who are fluent in design and architecture concepts. “Usually, these people need to understand firewalls, have experience with routers and switches, and general network usability and design,” Vick says. “The top skills are virtualization, scripting, cloud computing, and network hardware,” including equipment for LANs, WANs, TCP/IP, etc.

Although data center and networking environments have gone heavily virtual over the years, hardware is still vital. “Data centers are integral to setting up a scalable and secure network, and anyone working in a data center must know how to build out networking hardware,” says Nick Kolakowski, senior editor at talent site Dice.

Wireless network design, deployment, operation, and optimization are outpacing traditional wired networking skills in demand, Leary says. “We are moving rapidly to a wireless-first environment, for end user, smart device, and even adjacent building/site connectivity,” he says. Deploying, operating, and optimizing wireless networks, previously a one-time vendor set-up exercise, is now a continuous management process fueled by smarter wireless systems, automated management, sophisticated threats, and shifting demands, Leary says.

6. Platform engineering

Platform engineering is an emerging technology approach that can speed up the delivery of applications and the pace at which they produce value, according to Gartner.

It enhances developer experience and productivity by providing self-service capabilities with automated infrastructure operations, Gartner says. Platform engineering is on the rise in part because of its promise to accelerate the delivery of value by product teams. It also falls in line with the pattern of opening up technical work and knowledge across a broad set of roles and functions, it says.

“The best path forward for someone with traditional infrastructure management skills may be platform engineering,” Delory says. “A platform is an internal software product that abstracts away the underlying complexity of infrastructure and presents it to end users in whatever way best suits them.”

Platform engineers must be able to engage with internal users, understand their needs, and build products that are most useful to them, Delory says. “Infrastructure platform engineering allows you to take the deep knowledge you have about infrastructure and build it into something truly useful, a platform that enhances developer productivity and—ideally—your company’s bottom line.”