The 8 job skills of the future: Earn more money with these skills

Learning a new skill is never a bad idea. Be it to further your own career or make yourself attractive to new employers, it’s always a smart move to expand your skillset. Now, as we near the end of 2018 and approach 2019, now’s the time to sharpen up your CV with something new and look for opportunities in pastures anew.

But what skills should you be looking to hone?

Glancing over the job pages or training courses offered by companies such as Microsoft, Apple, IBM and Dell can give you a hint on what skills you should be developing. You should also take a look at educational resources such as Udacity and the Open University to see what they recommend as the most lucrative tech skills.

“At Udacity, we create all our learning programs with industry leaders to ensure that students learn the technology skills that employers value most,” says Nicolas Dittberner, Udacity’s Regional Manager, Europe. “Our mission is to empower as many people as possible to learn the skills they need to advance their career and shape the digital future.”

To help you find a new skill to learn in 2018, we’ve compiled a list of those we believe will make you irresistible to tech employers across the UK.

1. Make yourself invaluable with data analytics

Data is big business, and being able to understand it and track it makes you an invaluable asset to any business. Being able to track, measure and utilise your findings from data is a skill that’ll serve you well beyond 2018.

Who’d hire you? Deloitte, Aviva, Google, PwC

Learn how to become a data analyst with a Nanodegree programme from Udacity

2. Bring information to life with data visualisation

Knowing how to track and act upon data is one thing, but it’s an entirely different skill to help others understand what it all means. Enter the data-visualisation analyst – who take the unparseable and make it digestible to everyone from C-level board members to the general public.

Who’d hire you? IBM, BBC, KPMG, education institutes and museums

Take a course in data visualisation with Udemy

3. Build the future with a career in AI development

AI is, unequivocally, key to the future of almost every industry on the planet. The trouble is that the industry needs people who are able to wrap their heads around how the human brain operates. A course in AI engineering won’t just teach you how to crunch numbers, but also how to solve the problems of the brain.

Who’d hire you? Amazon, Google, Apple, a lot of startups

Hone your AI skills with a Nanodegree programme in AI engineering with Udacity

4. Learn a new development language

Picking up a development language such as Java, Python or C# can put you in a very desirable position with employers. In the past, being able to speak a second language was seen as a positive, but now you can’t go wrong with knowing your way around some code. Learning a coding language doesn’t only benefit a career in engineering or development, either – it’s a great supplementary skill in a startup.

Who’d hire you? Google, SpaceX, Improbable, BAE, anyone handling data modelling

Learn a new language with a Nanodegree programme by Udacity

5. Build beautiful websites as a front-end web developer

Understanding how the web works is one thing, building it is another. Front-end development of course involves reading and writing code, but it’s also about gaining a deeper understanding of UI and learning the psychological tricks that give people a smooth and engaging web experience.

Who’d hire you? Google, Facebook, Twitter, digital publishers

Learn how to build intuitive websites with a Nanodegree programme with Udacity

6. Create a world of possibilities with VR & AR development

VR and AR are the future. It may not seem like it just yet, but businesses are investing in the technology in a big way – even Dell sees VR as an important medium for businesses. A course in VR or AR development could see you building technologies for the future of design and construction, or healthcare and education. You could even build something truly transformative to someone’s life.

Who’d hire you? Improbable, Dell, games studios, experiential filmmakers

Develop for the next frontier of entertainment and education with Udacity

7. Land a steady and challenging job in database management

It may not sound sexy, but database management is the backbone of any business that runs online or has any interactions with customers – so, basically every company. Being able to understand, manage and fix a database when things go wrong is invaluable to a business, and so learning MySQL and other database systems is a surefire route to tech success.

Who’d hire you? Amazon, Google, IBM, data-analytic companies

Become an expert at MySQL and database management with a course from Udemy

8. An understanding of Blockchain

Wrapping your head around Blockchain may not land you a job in tech right off the bat, but grappling with this emerging technology now could set you on a path to greatness in the years to come. Blockchain could become the underlying technology businesses use to verify credentials securely or transfer sensitive information in an encrypted form. By knowing your way around the tech now, you could be invaluable later in your career.

Who’d hire you? Ethereum foundation, PwC, Barclays

Grasp how the next-generation of decentralised security could form