It’s that time of the year again! The latest installment of Jefferson Frank’s annual Careers and Hiring Guide has officially launched—but this year, there’s something a little bit different…
That’s because we’ve listened to the AWS community’s desire to make a more positive impact on the planet. And so, having previously been a printed guide distributed at cloud events across the globe, the 2024 edition of the Jefferson Frank Careers and Hiring Guide is available entirely online for the first time in its six-year history!
But don’t worry, it’s still jam-packed with all the same invaluable insights as before. Just this year, it’s even easier to uncover the market trends and sentiments that matter most thanks to our brand-new, simple-to-navigate micro-site.
Across its new home, you’ll find statistics sourced from over 69,000 validated data points across our survey and market analysis, offering you the most comprehensive snapshot of the AWS community available today. That’s not forgetting our expert tips and commentary that will help both employers and employees thrive in AWS across 2024 and beyond. It’s why the Jefferson Frank Careers and Hiring Guide remains the go-to resource for shaping AWS employers’ hiring strategies and informing professionals’ career decisions.
“Making a positive impact on the planet isn’t just the right thing for us to do as a business but it also echoes the sentiments of the AWS community,” said Kashif Naqshbandi, Chief Marketing Officer at Jefferson Frank. “A lot of hard work has gone into re-imagining the guide this year and we’re thrilled with the result. By being able to present it online in a way that’s not only greener but also so much more accessible, I’m confident this year’s guide will be an even greater asset to the AWS community than its predecessor was.”
Salary Data
Salary information has long been one of the most popular parts of our guide, helping professionals benchmark their market value and providing employers with a better understanding of how they should be compensating their teams. That’s why salary data still forms a vital part of this year’s guide—only this year, it’s available through our Key Findings publication, which can be downloaded directly from the Career and Hiring Guide micro-site.
“We know that our salary tables are one of the first things that people look for in the guide, as it’s around this time of year I begin to get asked by our customers when the next guide is coming out as they look towards conducting pay reviews! So, we’ve still retained all the data that people have come to know and love from the guide, but re-imagined in a much more accessible format.”
What other insights are on offer in this year’s publication? You could start with employee and employer sentiments on remote working, which remains an interesting point of discussion despite the dust settling on the events of the last few years. We found that 42% of AWS professionals prefer to work entirely remotely, marking a shift from our previous findings in 2023, which showed that most professionals preferred a hybrid working arrangement. But is this shift in preference being represented in the remote working options being offered to employees, and can hiring managers leverage these preferences to attract and retain candidates more effectively?
Perhaps predictably, the skills gap also emerged as a hot topic once again in this year’s guide, with 45% of respondents highlighting the time it takes to find talent as their main obstacle to tackling this challenge. With the rapid adoption and development of AI and ML this year, does the skills gap look set to widen further, or has the work carried out on bridging the skills gap to date finally started to make a positive impact?
A snapshot of the AWS community today
Diversity has also spotlighted some interesting statistics in this year’s guide which we hope will springboard meaningful conversations and inspire purposeful action across the community. For example, we found that only 59% of employees believe their employer provides equal pay for equal work. And with just 66% of businesses investing resources into EDI initiatives—a drop of 3% since our last report—progress appears to be stagnating.
“There are plenty of talking points contained within the pages of the guide,” added Naqshbandi. “As ever, we’ve compiled this incredibly in-depth resource to add value to jobseekers looking to make more informed career decisions, but it also undoubtedly helps organizations create better and fairer working environments for the professionals they employ. As the tech community continues to tackle some its historical ‘weak spots’ such as diversity, being able to take a snapshot of the ecosystem like this is invaluable.”
Uncovering a wide range of other sought-after insights on topics like certifications, platform trends, and candidate preferences, as well as career spotlights offering advice for professionals looking to accelerate their professional journeys, and even expert advice for employers and employees looking for that competitive edge with AWS, Jefferson Frank’s Careers and Hiring Guide unquestionably remains a must-have tool for your arsenal.
