Top 5 Jobs In SA Right Now
Ever wonder which jobs in South Africa are in high demand?
Whether you’re in high school deciding which profession to go into, thinking of a career change or just curious, The Panda explores some of South Africa’s top jobs according to career junction’s job data.
- Developers
We’ve all had that thought, “what is it that these keyboard magicians do?”
Simply put they use computer languages to build solutions that work with your hardware and browsers. Punching away at those sexy keyboards they create websites, payment & admin systems, games and so much more.
Developers that code in Java, PHP, .net languages are high in demand. With a huge untapped online market as well as many tech possibilities still to come in SA, these jobs will remain relevant and important. At the moment the demand still outweighs the supply for developers.
If you love to learn and solve problems, then this might be the job for you. Senior software developers earn on average R50k p.m.
Western Cape being SA’s tech valley takes the cake for Development and IT jobs with 7% above average salaries, Gauteng at 4% above average and KZN dropping to freezing temperature down to -23% below average salary.
- Financial Accountant
In plain jane English, FA’s do things like look after financial statements, help with tax payments and maintain business accounts to make sure everything remains squeaky clean so that you don’t have the FBI busting down your door at an impromptu office beer pong tournament. If you crunch stats like the Rain Man or even if you are just detail orientated and love understanding business through numbers, this might be for you. Financial accountants are earning on average R40k per month. If you are a Chartered Accountant you could be throwing dollar bills up and down the office corridor with an earning potential above R50k per month. The A-Team Ballers normally sit in management with financial managers earning up to R70k per month. In Gauteng, the salaries in finance can be 7% above average, in Western Cape it can fall as much as 24% below average.
Realizing you not making enough money in your job after reading this, what if it was possible to save money by comparing car insurance. Would you take it?
- Sales
Some of the world’s top entrepreneurs have said being able to sell is a key trait of successful people. The front line is key to the success of your business, never mind how fancy your tech or office bean bags are.
The process of selling is defined by the internet as “to give or hand over something in exchange for goods/money” or “to persuade someone of the merits of your goods/service”.
If you don’t like being tied down to boring office tasks and love communicating with people or just looking to flex your sales muscle, then this could be for you.
The earning potential varies greatly and can be anything from R8k to R45k per month depending on what you’re selling.
Salespeople work heavily on commissions and at the end of the day, it all depends how good you are. You may very well end up in a different tax bracket to the guy sitting next to you doing the same job. It depends on whether you are that person that makes minimum target and leaves at 4:59 pm or the Wolf of Wall Street type.
Salespeople in Gauteng and Western Cape can earn above average salaries compared to KZN where salaries can drop to 30% below average.
- Engineering
Just like developers, there are different types of engineers- structural, environmental, civil, mechanical … and the list goes on. There’s an engineer for everything from building a high-tech vault to store your grannie’s favourite pearls to building Trump Tower (wig included).
Wikipedia says engineers use science and math to design or make things. If you sit wondering how things work and enjoy building puzzles, then this might be for you. So, whether it’s making a watch, building roads or designing next level spaceships – smile and greet your nearby engineer- they make our lives easier.
When it comes to earning potential, the tops dogs seem to be structural engineers earning in excess of R80k p.m. in senior levels. That’s enough to get a full set of gold teeth and your own hip-hop video.
In the Engineering space if you live in Gauteng you will most likely earn up to 4% above the average salary for this type of job, in KZN it may feel slightly depressing with falling to 20% below average.
- IT (Systems and Network Administration)
With more and more people joining the online bandwagon in SA, naturally, we need more people setting up and administering networks and hardware.
With network and data security becoming more important, big corporates are willing to pay big bucks for someone with the right skills to prevent that Russian dude with dark sunglasses and a tablet from hacking your network. Cyber Crime in SA is real, and businesses would rather spend more on an IT team securing the networks than losing the business entirely.
IT senior management on average has an earning potential of between R50 and R60k at the moment.
2018 has seen an upward trend for people in Building and Construction as well as Medical and Health sectors.
Whether you want to build new systems for Nasa, grow your own real estate empire or invent the next big thing there’s something out there for you. And remember it’s never too late to change professions if you have a passion for something – Harland Sanders was 65 when he started KFC.
Think we forgot a very important and in-demand job? Let us know in the comment section below.
