Python skills boom, in-demand jobs, self-driving cars, and more: Tech research round-up

Let's start with our special feature on Autonomous Vehicles and the Enterprise. In a recent TechRepublic Premium survey, 51% of respondents view autonomous transportation as a positive for their industry, while just 11% think it will affect their industry negatively. Slightly more than one third (38%) remain unsure about how it will affect their industry. 

For more see: Industries take a wait-and-see approach to autonomous transportation

V2X, which stands for 'vehicle to everything', is the umbrella term for the car's communication system, where information from sensors and other sources travels via high-bandwidth, low-latency, high-reliability links, paving the way to fully autonomous driving. Global spending on V2X communications technology is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 170% between 2019 and 2022, according to SNS Telecom & IT.

For more see: What is V2X communication? Creating connectivity for the autonomous car era

Rather than just looking for recruits who can work on knotty tech problems, teamwork and business acumen are making the in-demand skills list, according to research by tech industry association CompTIA. When asked which skills IT managers are looking for when hiring, 'problem solving' tops the list, but 'teamwork' comes a close second.

For more see: Tech jobs: These are the skills hiring managers are looking for now

Cloud-based talent acquisition platform iCIMS has analysed applicant data across the US economy from January to May 2019. Its benchmark report suggests that hiring across the tech sector is growing faster than all other industries. Software application developers are, by far, the most sought-after role, accounting for nearly one-third of all tech jobs, followed by user support (14%) and network administrators (10%).

For more see: US companies facing a huge tech talent deficit in 2020

Recruitment website Indeed.com released its analysis of skills listed in job postings over the past five years. Demand for developers with knowledge of AWS has boomed in that time. Today, some 14% of job listings require knowledge of AWS. Jobs listings that mention Microsoft Azure also more than doubled but are only listed in 6.9% of postings today. Just 0.8% of job listings mention Google Cloud Platform. 

For more see: Tech jobs: Python programming language and AWS skills demand has exploded

The most sought-after tech skills in the US jobs market are SQL and Java, according to Indeed.com's analysis. But one of the most striking changes in tech jobs listings over the past five years is Python's growth. Job listings with Python mentioned have grown from just 8% in September 2014 to 18% in September 2019. 

For more see: Tech jobs: Python programming language and AWS skills demand has exploded

Consumers are generally annoyed by the frequency that companies contact them, prefer email and expect personalisation, according to a survey by Twilio. As many as 94% of consumers are annoyed by business communications. A third of consumers will make a purchase from a business if it communicates them in their preferred way.

For more see: Business walks fine line between communicating with consumers and annoying them

UK-based social-media safety company Crisp Thinking recently released its 2019 Crisis Impact Report. The survey shows that crises mean different things to different people. Misconduct ranks high in consumers considering if a company crisis is happening, with almost three in five (59%) saying that ethical misconduct, or CEO misconduct, constitutes a crisis.

For more see: CEOs must step up in a social media crisis

The Crisis Impact Report report shows that over half (53%) of consumers expect a brand's response within an hour of a crisis, and one in three (34%) expect a response within 30 minutes. Almost three in five (59%) of consumers want the brand responses to come from the CEO.

For more see: CEOs must step up in a social media crisis

Washington, DC-based ratings and reviews platform Clutch surveyed 500 US employees to learn what they feel about expressing political views online. Over one-third (36%) of employees under the age of 35 think it is important to work at a company that shares their political views. But almost half (45%) of younger employees disagree that their company should regulate whether employees can use social media while at work to express political views. 

For more see: Younger employees won't stop tweeting at work according to new research

Consumer-experience company Episerver recently released its 2019 holiday shopping trends report. One in three (32%) of online shoppers start their holiday shopping on Amazon, followed by Google (18%) and a retailer's website (17%). For the majority of shoppers, November starts the uptick in shopping, with 13% starting at the start of the month, and 17% shopping at the end of November.

For more see: Nearly half of online shoppers start holiday shopping at Amazon

Finally, Qualcomm is projecting 175 million to 225 million 5G smartphones in 2020, with more than 450 million in 2021. The company estimates that 5G adoption will be faster than 4G due to commercialisation in China and chipsets that work across multiple tiers.

For more see: Qualcomm says 5G rollout will be faster than 4G, projects 175 million to 225 million 5G handsets in 2020