list of top tech skills you should master in 2021

Tech skills are in demand these days, and many people try to keep up with what companies require. We live in a fast-paced environment, and skills needed several years ago are no longer needed today. That is why it is vitally important to know what is popular now and whether it will remain required and marketable in the future. 

Whatever you study in college–be it humanities, social sciences, or natural sciences–learning tech skills can give you lots of credit on the market. Whether or not you want to work within the tech field, having even basic tech knowledge will make you well-grounded and valuable to any company you will work for. 

Year by year, the demand for tech enthusiasts surges, and so are the requirements and expectations. By knowing Python, you won’t astonish any employer. What will surprise them then? Let’s look at the top tech skills, mastering which will help you land your job.

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning & Natural Language Processing

    Computers are becoming smarter day by day. People have honed Artificial Intelligence to the level it can process human inputs relatively well. But even such a rapid spike isn’t the limit, and there is lots of room for improvement. The demand for AI specialists appeared several years ago, although AI has been worked on for dozens of years. Between 2019 and 2020, the request for AI professionals more than doubled! And because of that, AI became the top 1 emerging jobs spot in 2020. There is no reason to assume that the demand will dip as many businesses and other institutions start implementing AI. 

    Machine Learning and Natural Language processing are basically the same AI. The difference is that Artificial Intelligence comprises many subfields, including ML and NLP. The latter elements, in contrast, focus on narrow tasks, such as predictive analysis, speech analysis, etc. They are also very much in-demand tech skills to master in 2021.

Cybersecurity

With the world switching to the online mode (because of the pandemic as well), the number of data breaches has never been that high. For any company that works with customers and collects their private data, keeping the network safe and secure is what matters the most. 

When data breaches occur, they might shake the world and hit the headlines. Although many countries set strict privacy protection policies (like GDPR in the European Union), they don’t often guarantee complete privacy. In contrast, the number of data breaches doubled in 2019, and the statistics aren’t so delightful during 2020 and 2021. 

One may say, “Teaching employees how to surf the net securely will resolve the issue.” However, cybersecurity goes way beyond it. The rise in work from home makes companies more vulnerable, which is why the request for security engineers has increased by over 100%. The demand is incredibly higher than the supply, which means cybersecurity will remain among the most needed skills for a long time. 

Software Engineering

What customers crave the most these days is to be able to order a particular good or use specific services by using a smartphone or a laptop. They want to make orders quickly with the least interactions. Such apps, software packages, and web pages rely on engineers that employ engineering principles to put any mentioned product into being. Besides, software engineers can do a wide array of other jobs, as they are not limited to creating apps. For instance, many specialists have landed as IT consultants, multimedia programmers, game developers, etc. 

Cloud Computing

When cloud storages appeared, they were blistered. Many people stated that cloud computing would disappear as rapidly as it popped up. Little did they know that cloud solutions would become predominant in 2020 and 2021. 

Classical server infrastructure is a thing of the past today. The market for global cloud services is growing steadily, and we are likely to have this tendency unchanged. Cloud computing covers data storage, networking, web servers, and business analytics. Those who have substantial cloud computing skills can shift roles, being full-stack developers, software engineers, cloud engineers, software architects, and Java developers. This makes cloud computing among the most promising fields in the tech world. 

UI/UX Design

 Every successful software, app, or website has a team of UI and UX design specialists. UI stands for user interface, whereas UX refers to user experience design. They both go hand in hand, i.e., they are responsible for making the product attractive and easy to use. User interface specialists primarily work on design interfaces for web pages and applications to make them visually attractive, responsive, and navigable.

In turn, UX professionals employ their analytical and critical thinking abilities and test the entire product to ensure the customer has the best experience using the product. Since zillions of businesses have their apps or web pages, UX and UI specialists are always and will be needed.

Technical Writing

Technical writing explains complex concepts and processes in plain terms. Although technical writing is an underestimated skill, it is widely used in business, engineering, robotics,finance,biotechnology,medicine,blockchain, cryptocurrency, IT service management and electronics

Technical writers often do tremendous work describing how a product works so that potential investors, co-workers from different departments, and customers are well aware of the product’s features. Depending on the field technical writers operate within, they can generate white papers, case studies, manuals, how-to guides, handbooks, and so forth. The great thing is that skillful technical writers can also work as UX specialists. Their list of skills and a perfect language command allow them to pick the best words and structures to describe a particular piece of software and explain how it works in simplified words. 

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Bottom Line

This list isn’t exhaustive, as there are many more tech skills that will remain in demand and which you should master in 2021. For example, Data Science and Analytics, Data Visualization, Internet of Things, Mobile Development, Robotics, Quantum Computing are also promising. They are all worth considering not only in 2021 but also five to ten years ahead. 

The mentioned list of abilities is diverse. It will help you decide on a tech skill that matches your area of interest; diving into such an area is essential, as only then will you manage to become a full-fledged expert. Notwithstanding, make sure to do your research and assess the personal pros and cons of choosing and perfecting a particular skill.