It’s common knowledge that the Information Technology (IT) niche represents some of the fastest-growing, stable careers on Earth at the moment. Many sectors driven by this industry will probably remain in demand forever – or at the very least for the rest of our lifetimes. But which are the truly evergreen skills within IT, the ones you can count on the most?
Join us for this quick and neat overview of the top ten most in-demand skills within the IT world today.
Data Analysis
Data analysis involves the handling of data, as well as the process of converting it into reports that can help companies structure their overall business strategies. Since we’re working with more and more informational data every day, this kind of job is not going away anytime soon.
This doesn’t just require expert knowledge of spreadsheet and office software as many other jobs do these days, but it also necessitates a high level of proficiency in math, as well as database management.
Programming skills are highly desirable, if not outright necessary in this field, as using tailor-made algorithms to process data can sometimes be quicker and more efficient than doing everything by hand.
Web Development
The internet has grown a lot since its infancy in the last century, and its expansion is only accelerating, not slowing down. This is why businesses and individuals alike will keep needing new talent to build and maintain their websites for them. As a web developer, you can truly provide an essential service that will never go out of fashion.
Web developers are not just some of the most in-demand people in the IT sphere today, they also happen to be some of the most well-paid, often earning into the six figures.
However, the list of necessary items on your resumé can be long. Fluency in multiple programming languages, along with a sound portfolio and experience with different web platforms for PC and mobile devices is often required.
Information Security
It makes sense when you think about it – the more data we create, the more we’ll need to invest in safety measures to keep that data from falling into wrong hands. Particularly businesses that deal in sensitive data, such as financial institutions, will always need information security workers.
These employees tend to be exceptionally well-paid, and the required knowledge and experience roughly fall in line with what you would expect for a similar position such as data analysis.
Technical Support
A classic IT job where demand seems to always outstrip supply no matter what, working in technical support requires you to know most of all the inner workings of various consumer devices, both PC and mobile.
If you’re a real whiz when it comes to fixing and tinkering with things, or if you just have a knack for technology and like talking to people, this could be an easy job with nice earning potential.
Machine Learning
This is a big one – machine learning has been a huge buzz word for the past decade, and for good reason. The field has the potential to drive our state of scientific knowledge forward to an extent that has hardly ever been seen before.
In order to work with machine learning, you need to be a real expert in high-level programming, as well as software engineering. By making machine learning a focal point of your IT education early on, you can vastly improve your chances.
If you want to work in a field that will only become a bigger and bigger deal in the future to come, this is it.
AI
Artifical Intelligence was long the stuff of science fiction – until it wasn’t anymore. Today, AI is used by countless businesses, as well as governmental organizations, in order to conduct research and analyze data in ways that would be too complex for humans to handle.
In scientific contexts, AI is also being tried as an attempt to answer some of life’s most ancient questions, such as “What is consciousness?” or “What is Intelligence?”
Working in this field should be an incredibly exciting, not to mention lucrative, path towards a long-term career that has no end in demand in sight.
However, AI development is notoriously difficult to become proficient at as a skill, and will require many years of practice.
Cloud Computing Skills
Today, when businesses want to minimize security risks while also driving down maintenance costs, they go for the cloud. Of course, they will still need to hire people to help them with setting up, maintaining, and eventually replacing and migrating their cloud data. This is where you could come in.
There are many concentrations available within cloud computing. You could focus on cloud security, or on troubleshooting. These skills generally overlap a lot with some of the ones elsewhere on this list, so they are easily transferable.
No matter what you choose though, a career that is based on cloud computing is sure to open up plenty of doors for a long time to come.
SQL Skills
Structured Query Language, or SQL, is basically the end-all-be-all of database computing. Since large-scale data storage is never going away (in fact, it’s probably only going to keep growing), knowing SQL can give your IT career a gigantic boost!
UX Design
UX stands for User eXperience, and it is an integral part of IT design today, most likely for as long as our interconnected world exists. In UX design, your job is to adapt the overall aesthetics and functionality of services, usually web-based, in order to make them more attractive for the kinds of customers your business is pursuing.
This requires a large breadth of skills in IT, from programming to visual design to market research, but you usually don’t need to be a real expert in all of them. This makes UX design excellent for jacks of all trades, and an easy entry into more technical fields.
Soft Skills
Finally, it’s incredibly important to mention one thing the IT industry is always going to need – people with good soft skills! We mean it, communication, teamwork, empathy, and more will always be in demand, simply because people with these skills work better and more efficiently.
And this goes not just for IT of course – any job in your lifetime will benefit! Therefore, don’t forget to practice your soft skills along with all the theoretical skills you need in order to succeed in your career.