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Physical network architectures fill server rooms with expensive hardware that requires maintenance and significant financial investment — and virtualization transforms these traditional models.
Virtual resources can include desktops, servers, operating systems, files, storage, and networking functionality. Virtualization technology can deliver significant benefits that include application isolation, workload portability, scalability, and high availability.
Demand for virtualization technology is growing, and companies are looking to fill positions in virtualization. See below to learn all about the virtualization job market:
The Market for Virtualization Jobs
With an estimated market value of $38.7 billion in 2020, virtualization is doing much of the heavy lifting in IT. Though the implementations and platforms vary, research conducted by Spiceworks suggests that 92% of businesses have already adopted some form of virtualization.
IT professionals looking for a career in a growing field should consider virtualization-related positions:
- LinkedIn (132,000 current job openings)
- Indeed (30,679 current job openings)
- ZipRecruiter (45,906 current job openings)
- U.S. Department of Labor, careeronestop (296,885 current job openings)
Virtualization Market Growth
Each of the different virtualization segments is poised for significant growth:
- Virtualization security is expected to grow from $1.3 billion in 2019 to over $2.7 billion by 2024.
- Desktop virtualization is expected to grow from $12.3 billion in 2022 to $20.1 billion by 2027.
- Network function virtualization is expected to grow from $12.9 billion in 2019 to $36.3 billion by 2024.
- Application virtualization is expected to grow from $2.2 billion in 2018 to $4.4 billion by 2023.
- Data virtualization is expected to grow from $1.58 billion in 2017 to $4.12 billion by the end of 2022.
- Data center virtualization is expected to grow from $3.75 billion in 2017 to $8.06 billion by the end of 2022.
Virtualization Job Types
| Position | Focus |
| Virtualization Engineer | Much like desktop and networking engineers, virtualization engineers act as problem solvers, providing support services for the creation, maintenance, and upgrading of hardware equipment and software related to virtualization. |
| Senior Virtualization Engineer | Senior virtualization engineers build on the skills of virtualization engineers, with the addition of team and project lead functions and roles. |
| Virtualization Architect | Virtualization architects work closely with clients to determine their needs, outline project requirements, and then create the plan required to bring concepts to development and delivery. |
| Virtualization Consultant | Virtualization consultants act as trusted advisors to organizations, providing the knowledge and experience required to educate and solve problems within these businesses. |
| Data Virtualization Specialist | Data virtualization specialists design databases used to collect and store information that has been analyzed and digitized. |
| Desktop Virtualization Engineer | Desktop virtualization engineers design, plan, and implement desktop virtualization technology. |
Virtualization Education
Individuals looking to establish themselves as virtualization professionals generally begin in other networking engineer and architect positions. While it isn’t a requirement, these individuals often have a bachelor’s degree in computer science or information science. In many cases, experience is considered more valuable than traditional training courses.
Organizations such as PluralSight, Global Knowledge, Oracle Education, and LinkedIn Learning offer expert-led courses on virtualization topics.
Many universities are also supporting the need for virtualization-related courses, a few examples of which include:
Virtualization Certifications
One of the best ways to show evidence of proficiency and expertise in the field of virtualization is by pursuing and attaining one of the industry-leading certifications available.
The most in-demand virtualization-related certifications include:
- VMWare Certified Professional
- VMWare Certified Advanced Professional
- VMWare Certified Design Expert
- VMWare Certified Technical Associate
- MCSA: Microsoft Windows Server 2016
- Citrix Certified Associate (CCA), Virtualization
- Oracle VM Certified Implementation Specialist
- Red Hat Certified Specialist in Virtualization
Virtualization Job Openings
Major employers are currently recruiting for virtualization positions, including market leaders, like Cisco, Dell Technologies, Lockheed Martin, and Robert Half.
Here is a sampling of the current open roles in virtualization:
- Virtualization Engineer
- Senior Virtualization Engineer
- Virtualization Architect
- Virtualization Specialist
- Virtualization Consultant
- VMWare Virtualization Engineer
- Remote DR/Virtualization Engineer
- Data Virtualization Specialist
- Associate Virtualization Engineer
- Administrator, IT Infrastructure Virtualization
- Lead Technical Account Manager—Virtualization
Virtualization Vendors
There are a considerable number of vendors offering virtualization. Among those offering solutions with the most notable market share include:
- VMWare vSphere has user ratings of 4.6 out of 5 at Gartner Peer Insights, 4.7 out of 5 at Capterra, and 9.4 out of 10 at TrustRadius.
- Microsoft Hyper-V has user ratings of 4.5 out of 5 at Garter Peer Insights and 8.4 out of 10 at TrustRadius.
- Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops has user ratings of 4.3 out of 5 at Gartner Peer, 4.3 out of 5 at Capterra, and 8.3 out of 10 at TrustRadius.
- Parallels has user ratings of 4.4 out of 5 at Capterra and 8 out of 10 at TrustRadius.
- Oracle VM has user ratings of 4.2 out of 5 at Gartner Peer Insights and 7.6 out of 10 at TrustRadius.
Virtualization Salaries
| Position | Median Salary |
| Virtualization Engineer | $96,152 |
| Senior Virtualization Engineer | $130,062 |
| Virtualization Architect | $116,626 |
| Virtualization Consultant | $83,325 |
| Data Virtualization Specialist | $43,905 |
| Desktop Virtualization Engineer | $65,218 |
(Source: Glassdoor)
Conclusions
Virtualization lets organizations focus on technology and skilled IT professionals instead of over-investing in hardware and network resources. Though many virtualization solutions come with a significant upfront investment, their long-term scalability and high availability can future proof technology investments. These payoffs can only be delivered with the assistance of a workforce of experienced IT professionals who can meet the expected growth across virtualization categories.
