Inside the retail giant Walmart sits a technology organisation named ‘Walmart Global Tech’, and they have just announced they will hire 5,000 techies in software engineering, cybersecurity, data science, and other technologists this year. This comes after the tech group increased its hiring by 26% in 2021. These jobs will be spread across its 17 technology hubs plus 2 new hubs in Toronto and Atlanta.
This news comes as IT positions reached over 5 million in February 2022, with 5,300 workers being added in February 2022, and US job postings in IT reaching 388,000 – this is up 50,000 over the previous month. Walmart has been increasing its IT capabilities over the years as it has always understood the value of information over its competitors and consumers. The tech group has hired ex-Google and ex-Amazon executives in the past.
Amazon, a major retail competitor, has also committed to adding 2,000 new IT jobs. Both companies realise the importance of creating revenue-generating capabilities through their technology groups, and both organisations have been committed to hiring people rather than outsourcing this work to third parties.
One recent Walmart acquisition includes ‘Zeekit Virtual Fitting Room’ which allows customers to see how clothes fit on a model of varying heights from XS to XXXL sizes. The ‘Conversational Shopping’ project is another example of Walmart investing in technology. This project allows customers to add items to their shopping carts by speaking into a smart speaker that is connected to their app.
Some of Walmart’s IT hires may be current store associates that take advantage of Walmart’s tuition assistance programme. This programme helps employees complete degrees and certificates whilst they work for the company. However, it is expected that a large majority of the new hires will be experience talent which is essential when considering the challenges the retail giant faces.
Gartner interviewed 2,300 CIOs at the start of 2022 and found most executives are trying to increase their digital revenues. Gartner predicts the average business will have half of their revenue come from digital channels by 2023. This increase in digital revenues will only be driven by an increased hiring of IT professionals in the coming years, and it seems the competition will become fierce if businesses wish to hire the best of the best. It may never have been a better time to be, or become, an IT professional.
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