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Top 10 Information Technology (IT) Jobs in Malaysia for 2022
It is essential to understand an IT professional before diving into Malaysia top 10 Information Technology jobs in 2022.
For the unaware, an IT professional works specifically on computers and computer software to make them do what they were supposed to do (in different ways). So, for example, there are web developers (people who design websites), database administrators (who maintain database servers), network architects (whose job is to create networks), and many more other professions that I'll discuss later.
Now let's quickly go over some of the backgrounds of Malaysians before delving into our main topic. The percentages come from Wikipedia. 30% of Malaysia's working population are (i.e., office workers who spend their day in an office). 65% of Malaysians work in the (i.e., industries that produce goods and services; e.g., traders, retailers, manufacturers). The remaining 5% are unemployed and looking for a job (I do not include them because they don't contribute to our main topic).
Computer Scientist
Computer scientists write software applications, i.e., programs using different programming languages like C, C++, Java, etc. They ensure that an application's code is well documented (instructions follow one another) and efficient (uses as few resources as possible); they also design algorithms to make applications run faster. Computer scientists also analyze programs to find bugs (and fix them).
Average Salary per month: MYR 10,900
Web Developer
Web developers develop websites for companies that want to use it as their webpage (e.g., buy a domain name like www.example.com and host the website there) or client's webpage. Web developers are responsible for writing HTML, CSS, and Javascript code, i.e., web technologies that make web pages visually pleasing/interactive and dynamic, respectively.
Average Salary per month: MYR 5,800
Network Administrator
Network administrators maintain networks between computers in an office, e.g., printers, computers, etc.; this includes setting up networks by connecting network devices together with cables, testing networks to ensure that the connectivity is working well, etc.
Average Salary per month: MYR 5,890
Database Administrator
Database administrators maintain databases used by companies, e.g., using a customer relationship management (CRM) system for a company's sales department requires a database administrator to maintain a database storing information about customers. Another example of their orders and other related sales is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system - it ties various business units/departments together, requiring a database administrator. These systems require high uptime as many people can access them at once from different locations around the globe.
Average Salary per month: MYR 5,100
System Administrator
System administrators manage servers that run applications developed using programming languages like Python, Java, etc.; these servers either run on physical computers called hardware or virtual computers called cloud software. Also, they are responsible for configuring operating systems on physical computers to ensure that their performance is outstanding.
Average Salary per month: MYR 3,793
Software Engineer
Software engineers design computer hardware-independent modules, e.g., a camera driver used by other programs/software/operating systems to control a camera device. They also write programs using programming languages like C, C++, etc.; these are called application programming interfaces (APIs) responsible for connecting different parts of an entire computer system. This means that many applications written by other people can talk to one another through APIs. For example, the operating system itself may use APIs to communicate with various hardware components attached to it (e.g., pointing devices, network interface cards, etc.) for some hardware-dependent functionality.
Average Salary per month: MYR 4,417
Network Engineer
Network engineers design networks between computers within company premises, e.g., a local area network (LAN) connecting all computers/servers in one company department using cables or wireless connections. These cables are connected to switches with multiple ports that connect different devices and routers - usually located at entrances/exits of LANs - to direct packets sent from one computer to another towards the correct destinations on the internet.
Average Salary per month: MYR 4,000
IT Security Professionals
IT security professionals protect companies by preventing unauthorized access to confidential data kept on their servers. This is done by developing secure software applications and making sure physical access to servers is restricted only to people allowed, so they can't steal any physical device containing confidential information (e.g., hard disk drives). Also, they prevent data breaches by encrypting files containing sensitive data like credit card numbers, etc.
Average Salary per month: MYR 6,649
Electronic Engineers
Electronic engineers design computer hardware, e.g., microprocessors (single-core/multi-core), sound cards, monitors, etc.; these are the components that make up a computer system. Therefore, they play an essential role in ensuring no bottleneck between different parts of the whole system; this allows fast processing of programs/applications, resulting in shorter execution times for users interacting with software applications running on computers.
Average Salary per month: MYR 3,174
Operating system Developers
Operating system developers create operating systems installed on physical computers, e.g., Windows XP and macOS Sierra by Microsoft and Apple, respectively. These operating systems have software components that form an entire system running on top of a hardware component. The operating system communicates with various devices to allow users to interact with them (e.g., keyboards, pointing devices, etc.) smoothly.
Average Salary per month: MYR 3,500
So these are the top 10 IT jobs in Malaysia for 2022, as predicted by different research groups. They are ranked based on their salary range and growth rate. It is said that these jobs require less time for retraining, hence easy to reallocate workers if there is an economic downturn.
There are also other IT jobs or positions that pay less than what's listed above, but it is believed to have good growth potential over the next few years, which will generate better salaries. These are company administrator, system analyst, project manager, and App developer/designer. And of course, there are many more job opportunities in related fields outside of the actual information technology industry that would benefit from a high level of technical skills such as telecommunication engineer, financial planners, etc., especially for those with an educational background in computer sciences.