Most in Demand Tech Skills for 2021 and Why You Should Learn Them

1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are two very hot buzzwords that have become synonymous with innovation. Today, AI and ML are used in a vast number of services and tools.

According to LinkedIn 2020 Emerging Jobs Report, hiring growth for the role of Artificial Intelligence Specialist has increased by 74% annually in the last 4 years.
According to Indeed’s best jobs of 2019 study, Machine Learning Engineer job openings increased by 344% between 2015 and 2018. Also, according to Indeed, the current average salary of a Machine Learning Engineer is $140,502 per year in the United States.

Skills such as TensorFlow, Python, Java, R, and Natural Language Processing are skills that you should learn today to improve your chances of getting hired for an AI or ML job as these skills now have the highest demand.

Learning to build chatbots is also one of the most in-demand skills that come under AI and ML. You must have noticed that AI deals with customer service interactions and queries on many websites and that chatbots pop up when you visit these websites. AI-operated chatbots are being deployed extensively by several major industries.

Due to the current popularity, IT employees who started learning AI and ML themselves are sure to earn the highest salaries and demand in 2021.

2. Cloud Computing

Cloud computing jobs are on the rise because more and more companies are switching from the traditional server infrastructure to cloud solutions. Many AI and ML services are also provided by cloud platforms.

According to Indeed, Cloud Computing job openings in the USA increased by 107% between 2016 and 2019.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is currently the leading cloud service provider on the market. So learning AWS before 2021 will be very useful to improve your demand as an IT professional.

AWS-certified IT professionals earn more than their non-certified counterparts. It is one of the most profitable skills IT employees can learn to level up their tech career as AWS certified developers earning an average of $130,272 (the highest of all certifications in the United States and Canada). The current average salary of an AWS Could Solution Architect in the United States is $139,055.

Some other most in-demand cloud skills are Microsoft Azure, Docker, DevOps, and Kubernetes.

Cloud Engineers will likely continue to have a long-term need across the technology industry as more companies move to cloud platforms.
3. Cybersecurity
It’s very important for any company that collects sensitive customer information or deals with sensitive data of its own, to keep their networks secure. Almost every major company today stores customer and company data in databases, making cybersecurity one of the top technology trends in 2020 and beyond.

Cybersecurity Specialist job position has a 30% annual growth rate in the US, according to LinkedIn 2020 Emerging Jobs Report. Cloud security experts also have a high demand due to the growing number of cloud services.

Cybersecurity, Information Security, Network Security, and Vulnerability Assessment are the best skills to learn to land a job as a Cybersecurity Specialist. You also need a good knowledge of the basics of programming languages.

6 out of 15 top-paying IT certifications focus on security, so learning IT security isn’t going to be a waste even if you’re an IT professional.

The cybersecurity labor crunch is expected to reach 3.5 million unfilled jobs by 2021. So the demand for security professionals will be extremely high in 2021.

4. Full Stack Development

While not a new job, the rapid pace of technology change has made full stack developers a valuable asset for any company. Both front-end and back-end developers have high demand in many countries, but full-stack developers have even greater demand.

According to LinkedIn, the hiring rate for the role of Full Stack Engineer has been at an annual growth rate of 35% since 2015 in the USA.

Full Stack Developer job title ranks 2nd in Indeed’s best jobs of 2020 study and ranks top in the growth spotlight at a growth rate of 161.98%.

Currently, most in-demand coding languages across the globe are Go, JavaScript, Java, and Python. JavaScript is also the most commonly used programming language. Go has a high demand but low supply due to fewer developers working with it.

React and Angular, are also at the top of the list of most in-demand front-end tech skills.
Django and Spring are the most demanding back-end framework skills.

Full-stack developers will have a high demand and a high salary in 2021, so learning to become one before 2021 will be most beneficial to you.

5. AR and VR

Also known as Extended Reality (XR) is the collaboration of both Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Many industries, such as entertainment, education, health, manufacturing, and advertising, have already adopted XR technology. So in 2021, XR technicians are sure to be in high demand.
According to Hired’s 2020 State of Software Engineers report, demand growth for the role of AR/VR Engineer was 1400% in 2019.

74% of software engineers predict that we will see the full impact of AR/VR in the next 5 years.

According to Statista, the market size of XR was around $6.1 billion in 2016 but is expected to reach $215 billion by 2021. Top companies like Google, Facebook, Snapchat, NVIDIA, and HTC are now using XR. COVID19 has also played a part in growing the market demand for AR and VR.

If you already have coding skills, learning how to use Unity will help you build your career path to XR as it is the most in-demand XR development platform. You can learn XR from the courses available in Coursera and Udemy.

With this increased demand for XR, learning XR skills is sure to increase your demand in the future.

6. Blockchain
Blockchain comes in the last place of this list due to the rapid decline in the popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But blockchain is not only used for cryptocurrency, but is also used for peer-to-peer payments, crowdfunding, file storage, identity management, digital voting, and so on. Therefore, more companies need developers who understand blockchain, smart contracts, and can build decentralized applications.

Some of the blockchain skills you should learn are networking, database design, and programming languages ranging from Java, JavaScript, and C++ to Go, Solidity, and Python.

Tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft are working on developing blockchain services.

According to Hired, the current average salary of Blockchain Engineers in the San Francisco Bay Area is $162,000, which is the same as that of ML Engineer. Major banking and other financial institutions are also now using blockchain, making it one of the top tech skills to learn in 2020. You can learn blockchain from the Blockchain Specialization course offered by Coursera.

SOURCE: MC.AI