According to research from McKinsey, nearly one-third of U.S. workers will need to find new jobs by 2030 in response to rapid advancements in technology. These advancements mean that workers need to constantly be learning new skills.
"To be successful, every single one of us has to learn new skills — not just once, but throughout our careers," says Melinda Gates.
When it comes to learning a new technical skill, it can be difficult to predict what will be most valuable in the labor market. LinkedIn analyzed hundreds of thousands of job postings in order to determine which skills companies need most in 2019 and found that employers are looking for workers with both soft skills and hard skills.
The job site highlighted 25 technical skills and matched these skills with LinkedIn Learning courses that are free for the month of January. Here are the 25 most in-demand hard skills in 2019:
25. Corporate Communications
Recommended Courses: Crisis Communication, Writing a Press Release, Public Relations Foundations: Media Training
24. Computer Graphics
Recommended Courses: Learning OpenGL, AutoCAD Mechanical Essential Training, AutoCAD: Advanced 3D Modeling
23. Data Science
Recommended Courses: Data Analytics for Pricing Analysts in Excel, Data Science Tools of the Trade: First Steps, Data Science Foundations: Data Engineering
22. Software Testing
Recommended Courses: Test Automation Foundations, Behavior-Driven Development, Scripting for Testers
21. Customer Service Systems
Recommended Courses: Handling Abusive Customers, Customer Service in Your First Retail Job, Building Rapport with Customers
20. Competitive Strategies
Recommended Courses: Developing a Competitive Strategy, Business Development Foundations: Researching Market and Customer Needs, Business Development Foundations
19. Industrial Design
Recommended Courses: Industrial Design Foundations, Design Foundations: Prototyping and Manufacturing, Product Design: From Sketch to CAD
18. Digital Marketing
Recommended Courses: Marketing Tips, Brand and Marketing Integration, Marketing Foundations: Growth Hacking
17. Journalism
Recommended Courses: Ninja Writing: The Four Levels of Writing Mastery, Shane Snow on Storytelling, Editing Mastery: How to Edit Writing to Perfection
16. Business Analysis
Recommended Courses: Business Analysis Foundations, Agile Requirements Foundations, Learning Digital Business Analysis
15. Animation
Recommended Courses: Animation Foundations: Fundamentals, Animation Foundations: Gesture, Maya 2018: Bifröst Fluids
14. Social Media Marketing
Recommended Courses: B2B Foundations: Social Media Marketing, Marketing on Instagram, Social Media Marketing: Social CRM
13. Game Development
Recommended Courses: 2D Game Design and Development Essential Training, Careers in the Game Industry, C# for Unity Game Development
12. Scientific Computing
Recommended Courses: Matlab Essential Training, Scala Essential Training for Data Science, Data Science Foundations: Python Scientific Stack
11. Natural Language Processing
Recommended Courses: Artificial Intelligence Foundations: Thinking Machines, Creating Bots with the Microsoft Bot Framework, Part 2, NLP with Python for Machine Learning Essential Training
10. Audio Production
Recommended Courses: Digital Audio Foundations, Audio Recording Techniques, Tips & Tricks for Modern Producers
9. Translation
Recommended Courses: Communicating Across Cultures, Developing Cross-Cultural Intelligence, InDesign: Multilingual Publishing Strategies
8. Sales Leadership
Recommended Courses: Sales Coaching, Sales Management Foundations, Sales: Data-Driven Sales Management
7. Video Production
Recommended Courses: Foundations of Video: The Art of Editing, Video Foundations: Cameras and Shooting, Web Video for Business: Creating a Web Series
6. Mobile Application Development
Recommended Courses: React Native Essential Training, iOS 12 Development Essential Training: 1 Fundamental, UI, and Architecture, iOS 12 Development Essential Training: 2 Web Content, Views, and Distribution
5. UX Design
Recommended Courses: UX Foundations: Multidevice Design, UX Design: 01 Overview, UX Research for Agile Teams
4. People Management
Recommended Courses: Motivating and Engaging Employees, Managing Team Conflict, Leading with Purpose
3. Analytical Reasoning
Recommended Courses: Making Decisions, Decision Making Strategies, Executive Decision Making
2. Artificial Intelligence
Recommended Courses: Artificial Intelligence Foundations: Neural Networks, Artificial Intelligence Foundations: Machine Learning, Machine Learning and AI Foundations: Classification Modeling
1. Cloud Computing
Recommended Courses: Learning Cloud Computing: Networking, Learning Amazon Web Services (AWS) for Developers, AWS for Architects: Advanced Security
Cloud computing was the number one most in-demand hard skill of 2019, according to LinkedIn, followed by artificial intelligence.
According to Paul Petrone, editor of LinkedIn Learning, the list demonstrates a shift in corporate interests, and these highly technical skills "reflect our increasingly digital world."
It makes sense that employers are hungry for workers with technical skills in growing industries like artificial intelligence, but many of the other in-demand hard skills on LinkedIn's list are more counter-intuitive. Journalism was ranked the 17th most in-demand hard skill of 2019, despite signs that jobs in industries like publishing are at risk.
"Once a dwindling skill, journalism isn't just for journalists anymore as marketing and content teams alike vie for people who can tell compelling stories," reads LinkedIn's list.
"The future of publishing is much in line with the future of other industries," Nina Garcia, editor-in-chief of Elle told CNBC Make It in 2018. "With every technological shift, our world — and our jobs — get disrupted. I always tell people to pay attention to what's happening now and imagine where we're going. There's a place in the future for all of us, but it is up to each person to recognize that change and figure out how what they are doing now is relevant in the future."
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