For the D.C.-area technology community, 2020 will be much like 2019. There will be plenty of jobs available and not enough IT professionals with the right skills to fill them.

For the D.C. region’s technology community, 2020 will be much like 2019. There will be plenty of jobs available and not enough IT professionals with the right skills to fill them.

Staffing firm Robert Half surveyed IT decision makers at Washington-area companies and found that 69% of them plan to expand their IT teams in 2020. Almost all — 98% — are confident in their company’s growth outlook.

But despite hiring plans, 77% of IT department managers at D.C.-area companies say it’s still challenging to find suitable candidates, and that the talent shortage is extreme.

“It is severe. The demand remains high. The supply remains low. And all indications are that 2020 will remain a challenging time for IT hiring,” Matt Deneroff, at Robert Half’s D.C. office, told WTOP.

The shortage of qualified candidates for full-time jobs has also meant more demand for IT contractors and staffing firms like Robert Half.

“The impact has been high demand for talent. Whenever it is difficult or taking too long to hire full-time employees, hiring interim IT project professionals is a great solution, so we’ve seen high demand,” Deneroff said.

The survey also found immediate demand for specialized skills, with 38% of D.C.-area IT leaders saying the most in-demand skills going into 2020 are cloud security and IT architecture. And the top priority for almost all firms is cybersecurity.

Another top priority in 2020, largely driven by a lack of qualified professionals, will be “upskilling,” or training existing IT staff to help meet their company’s evolving needs.