The Virtualization Job Market in 2022

The virtualization market is growing worldwide, and the demand for employees in the field is rising as well. 

“It is important for vendors to develop virtualization experts who possess updated knowledge and satisfactory level of skills for … virtualization solutions. Currently, there is a dearth of skilled employees in the market,” according to a report by MarketsandMarkets in 2022.

Companies need virtualization pros to manage data storage, help with data migration, for virtual machine (VM) set up and training, and to conceptualize and design virtual IT architectures.

See below to learn all about the market for jobs in the virtualization field:

Virtualization market

The virtualization market was estimated to be valued at between $40-$62 billion in 2022 and grow to between $120-$149 billion in revenue by 2026. 

The sector is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25% from 2020 to 2026.

Regionally, several countries are driving demand in the virtualization market: the U.S.; China; India; Japan; South Korea; Australia; and New Zealand.

The desktop virtualization software market alone is estimated to grow from $12 billion in 2022 to $20 billion by 2027, according to ReportLinker.

Virtualization job types

Here are several common roles in the virtualization field:

Virtualization engineer: manages storage, server resources, and computing platforms and other tasks, including data migration, virtual machine (VM) set up and training, troubleshooting, and assesses visualization applications.

Virtualization administrator: manages change in a virtual environment and virtual machines.

Virtualization specialist: designs, tests, and scales platform and works with a range of systems, tools, and programming.

Virtualization architect: conceptualizes, designs, and creates architectures for IT resources.

See more: The Top Virtualization Providers

Education for virtualization roles

Depending on the virtualization role, some businesses require an associate, bachelor, or master degree or additional training. 

These are some of degree programs and training that are often required for the positions, according to several job search websites:

• Bachelor’s degree programs: computer science, information technology, electrical engineering, business
• Master’s degree programs: design in virtual reality, systems virtualization, computer science, information technology, electrical engineering,  business
• Courses and certifications: Certified Virtualization Engineer (CVE) media informatics VR/AR development; VMware certified professional 5, data center virtualization (VCP5-DCV); Azure virtual machines with PowerShell

Here is a sampling of specific degree and training programs at various schools: 

• DeVry University: Cloud-Based Networking and Virtualization specialization with B.S. in information technology and networking
• Century College: Associate in Applied Science Degree – Cybersecurity, Virtualization, and Forensics
• Atlantic Technical College: Cloud Computing and Virtualization Program
• Front Range Community College: Networking and Virtualization Associate of Applied Science
• Charles Sturt University: M.S. in cloud computing and virtualization
• Nicolet College: IT virtualization technical diploma

Job openings in virtualization

There are currently over 120,000 jobs related to virtualization at LinkedIn, over 30,000 at Indeed, and over 12,000 at Glassdoor. 

See below for companies hiring for roles in virtualization:

Cisco

• Technical consulting engineer, server virtualization
• Senior software engineer, routing virtualization and cloud
• Engineering manager, virtualization platform

IBM

• Site reliability engineer, Cirrus virtualization
• Senior virtualization/cloud architect
• Compute and virtualization support engineer

Oracle

• Enterprise account executive,  Linux and virtualization specialist
• Sr. director, sales acceleration, Oracle, Linux and virtualization sales
• TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV)

Citrix

• Technical support engineer, virtualization
• Senior escalation engineer, cloud/virtualization
• Software engineer, virtualization Group

See more: Top 5 Companies Hiring for Virtualization Jobs

Salaries in virtualization

The average median salary for virtualization jobs is around $118,203 in the U.S., according to ZipRecruiter.

(Source: ZipRecruiter)

Conclusions

The fast-growing field of virtualization is creating a variety of job opportunities across the tech industry. 

There are many specialized virtualization roles that focus on parts of the technology, from being an engineer managing platforms to a system administrator doing maintenance. 

“Virtualization has become incredibly important,” says Karena Man, with the leaderships advisory firm Egon Zehnder, in an article by The Wall Street Journal. 

Many major tech employers feel the same as they look for virtualization experts to help their teams.

See more: The Top Storage Virtualization Providers