Money is important. There are no two opinions on it and to get this money you need to survive the tough competition of acquiring the jobs that can actually pay off your living expenses.
According to Wharton Employment Report, 98,4% of graduated students seek a job as soon as possible -which clearly shows that there is huge competition among people.
However, the thing is today your competition is not only with humans. Yes, you heard me right.
We are going to lose almost 5 Million jobs to robotization and automation by the year 2020. (Source: World Economic Forum)
Moreover, in the next two decades, computers are going to be on par with human intelligence. (Source: Nick Bostrom)
The world is getting digitized super fast. Our daily lives are going to be remodeled completely by the new era of artificial intelligence.
What does this mean for you?
Now, the question is how are people going to survive in the future where most of the jobs are going to be automated? By eating peanuts? (I can definitely assure peanuts are not enough to survive).
Further, what can be done to retain these jobs?
Will this mean an inevitable end of the human race, as Stephen Hawking used to speculate?
An interesting fact to boost our spirits is that with this mass destruction of jobs, many new jobs are also going to be created automatically. As many of the soft skills like creativity, complexity, and ability to deal with unpredictability can be handled by human beings only. (Source: Mckinsey)
So, fear not humans! You are not going to be driven utterly useless.
Soft And Hard Skills You Need To Learn in 2019
Advanced technology means that there are going to be more of cognitive and technical jobs for you. This also hints towards the complete vanishing of jobs for the manual workers and data processors in the near future.
To survive the tough competition at present and keep a steady flow of income, what you can do is learn the most in-demand skills of the present time.
Top Ten In-demand skills Employers Need In 2019
As it’s just the beginning of the new year and everyone is trying to level up their skills in favor of doing better in their respective professions, you better do that too.
According to the Linkedin Careers, a total of 50,000 skills are listed under Linkedin skills. So, for your convenience, the networking site has run an analysis to find out what kind of specific skills employers are looking for in 2019. They have deduced that a large majority of employers are anticipating to find a combination of both soft and hard skills this year in their ideal employees.
Similarly, Upwork has also recently released their latest Skills Index -in which the top skills completely differ from Upwork’s top ten most in-demand skills of 2018. This clearly indicates that you definitely need to keep yourself updated with the best skills of LinkedIn and Upwork.
Let’s Start With The Soft Skills
Soft skills can never go out of style. These are the basics on which you can build your career substantially. With the advent of AI and digitization, emotional intelligence and soft skills including problem-solving and critical thinking are the only things that can’t be automated by robots.
As Rick Pitino has said,
“Technology is a compulsive and addictive way to live. Verbal communication cannot be lost because of a lack of skill. The ability to listen and learn is key to mastering the art of communication. If you don’t use your verbal skills and networking, it will disappear rapidly. Use technology wisely.”
Here are the top soft skills you definitely need to learn this year:
Creativity
Creativity is one of the most demanded skills for linkedIn. It makes sense too, as to think out of the box is only a fort of human minds. While computers and robots are able to curate anything from the old data, crafting brand new ideas can only be done if you have emotional intelligence. The gut feeling that speaks for most of the things we do and tell us what’s the best, can never be understood by AI.
How can you improve it?
If you are wondering how creativity can be learned. The answer is simple. We are all innately creative. What we lack in is patience to draw it out to the surface. Here are some pointers on how to improve your creative streak,
- Always try to make original associations between things for original perspective.
- Never be afraid to stand out of the crowd.
- Always embrace new experiences with open arms.
- Always focus on the things that actually matter rather than keeping yourself occupied with useless things.
- Try to develop your ideas more clearly and always implement them in your daily life.
You can also check out these courses to learn and improve creativity:
- Creativity Bootcamp
- The Five-Step Creative Process
- Creativity: Unleash your creative thinking
- Cracking the creative code
Problem Solving
Although AI and robots can analyze problems with the help of already data present. However, when it comes to understanding the critical and new problems, only humans can figure out the solutions by thinking in multiple directions.
How can you improve it?
Different kinds of exercises can be practiced daily to improve your thinking capacity and problem sorting by going back to the start. Most of all, this also stimulate your brain for better performance. So a win-win situation for everyone!
You can improve your problem-solving skill by doing as following,
- Play brain-boosting games like puzzles, chess, Sudoku to train your mind.
- Sleep on time to experience Rapid Eye Movement phase (a sleep stage) to stimulate your brain.
- Practice yoga to experience calm breathing, body awareness, and meditation.
- Use mind maps to better visualize your problems and help your mind focus.
- Play some sports to practice multitasking.
You can also check out these courses to learn and improve your problem-solving skills,
- Effective problem solving and decision making under pressure
- Solving complex problems
- Introducing the five step problem solving process
Communication and Negotiation
No matter how good a company you are and how awesome the products you create. You will always need a front man that can not only communicate with the executives but also act as a negotiator to persuade your clients.
How can you improve it?
Communication and negotiation always relate to how better you can articulate your words to clarify not only any confusion from your client’s mind but also to convince them effectively.
Following are some suggestions on how to improve it,
- Always begin with analyzing your problem to have an idea about the solutions and your outcome goals.
- Prepare for your meetings beforehand.
- Always listen to the other party with complete attention and utmost patience.
- Always keep your emotions in check during the negotiation.
- Develop your interpersonal skills to keep a respectful and peaceful environment.
You can also check out these courses to learn and improve your communication skills.
Time Management
Now, this is the most basic skill (but essential nonetheless) that you need to survive as an employee. From being on time on your first day to managing all your tasks in the given time frame, efficient time management can always take you to places.
How can you improve it?
Time management is one of those skills that can easily be improved with all the right resources. You only have to drive yourself to actively use them and stick to the golden rules of time-management.
- Always make a schedule to organize your day.
- Learn to prioritize your responsibilities according to their importance and urgency.
- Sneak in some short breaks every now and then to avoid tiring yourself out completely.
- Set realistic deadlines and try to stick to them.
- Use smartphone apps to better manage your time.
- Trello for to-do lists
- Rescue Time to keep track of the time you spent on each task
- Forest to stay away from your phone
- Focus Booster to avoid distractions
You can also check out these courses to learn and improve your time-management skills,
Collaboration and People Management
Human emotions are always the most unstable thing and trust me a computer can never deal with it. When you work with a team, learning to engage with people always comes handy.
How can you improve it?
To work in any organization, collaboration and teamwork are essential. Similar is the deal with people management.
Here are some tips on how to improve them,
- Define your goals clearly to your team and try to assure that everyone is equally motivated towards those goals.
- Practice team building activities like water balloon toss and scavenger hunt, actively.
- Improve individual engagement by giving a certain amount of freedom to your team in decision making.
- Promote interdependence, healthy competition, and trust among the team members.
- Arrange events outside the work to help encourage a sense of comradery, community, and co-operation among the team.
You can also check out these courses to learn and improve your collaboration and teamwork skills,
Hard Skills That Companies Will Demand In 2019
As the fourth industrial revolution is edging towards its start, the demand for hard skills inclining more towards the high-quality tech and algorithm is also increasing. This new era is focusing more on transformative technologies such as nanotechnology, molecular biology, artificial intelligence, and whatnot.
Now, with the trending fields being revamped, new jobs are also opening which require yet more participation.
Here are the top 5 hard skills that are going to be needed big time this year,
Cloud Computing
According to the list of top LinkedIn skills, cloud computing is going to be most sought after Linkedin job. This includes both cloud architects and cloud system engineers. A testament to this is the increase in demand for cloud computing and cloud engineering by 27% in the last three years. (Source: Indeed)
Cloud computing is basically the shared pool of computer systems that can be configured. It involves management and deployment of the cloud computing strategies, including support of the cloud application across multiple operating systems.
You Need To Have
- Knowledge of cloud technologies and their main principles
- Ability to scale cloud applications
- Understanding the development and management of IT cloud systems
- Expertise in various programming languages
- Experience with configuring and debugging cloud infrastructures
- Soft skills of good teamwork and communication
Top Technical Skills To Learn For Cloud Computing Jobs
Cloud computing is the information technology revolution that is now the top most important IT strategy for most of the organizations and enterprises.
Here are some of the skills that are needed by most companies:
- Dropbox API
- Amazon Web Services
- Python
- Java
- Azure
- Agile
- Puppet
- Ansible
- Docker
- VMware
Here are some courses to help you learn more about cloud computing,
Data Scientist
Data scientist dubbed as the no 1 best job in America for consecutive three years (Source: Glassdoor), is still going strong as one of the most in-demand hard skills to add to LinkedIn and other platforms for 2019.
A data scientist is an integral part of a company, as they basically collect, analyze, and process large amounts of data to better articulate the company operations. The data scientist is not only a statistician but also responsible for analytical technologies like machine learning and predictive modeling.
You Need To Have
- Proficiency in programming languages like Python, C++, and Java
- Strong analytical and mathematical skills
- Knowledge of SAS and other analytical tools
- The ability of data mining and processing
- Soft skills in creativity, critical thinking, leadership, and decision making
Top Technical Skills To Learn For Data Science
The data scientist is one of those jobs that every organization has utmost need of. Here are the top skills that you need to learn to be a proficient data scientist this year,
- Python
- SQL
- Hadoop
- Spark
- Java
- SAS
- Tableau
- Hive
- Scala
Here are some online courses to help you learn more about data science,
- Learning data science: understanding the basics
- Data science A-Z
- IBM data science professional certificate
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the second best skill to list on LinkedIn after cloud computing. With the emergence of artificial intelligence and automation, more jobs pertaining to this field are opening up.
The demand for AI and machine learning jobs has doubled in the past three years and still seems to grow as 2019 goes on. (Source: Indeed)
Moreover, AI-related jobs have doubled further in the last 11 months. According to the chief economist at Glassdoor named Andrew Chamberlain,
“The supply of people moving into this field is way below demand.” (Source: Glassdoor) Companies are, now, welcoming the individuals having a strong command over AI, who can not only bring this trending technology to their workplaces but also integrate it to drive more sales.
You Need To Have
- Experience with all of the popular programming languages
- Expertise in Bayesian networking and graphical modeling, including neural nets
- Education in physics, robotics, engineering, and various levels of maths (statistics, algorithm, and others)
- Knowledge of cognitive science theory
- Soft skills of good critical thinking, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, and communication
Top Skills To Learn For Artificial Intelligence
To become a top-notch expert in Artificial Intelligence, you need to learn these 10 skills asap,
- Python
- Scala
- Hadoop
- SQL
- Big data
- Java
- Spark
- SAS
- Perl
Here are some online courses to help you learn more about artificial intelligence,
- Become an AI and machine learning specialist
- Artificial Intelligence: Reinforcement learning in Python
- Advanced machine learning and Signal processing
Equity Research
Upwork has listed this skill on no. 2 in their top 20 most in-demand skills of 2019. Equity research includes analyzing the company’s financials, reporting stock investment and salesforce recommendation, designing marketing strategies, and performing ratio analysis.
According to Mathew Thomas, head of CEEMEA oil and gas equity research in London,
“The job requires not only micro-analytical skills, such as understanding financial accounts, a company’s business model, or the strengths and weaknesses of management but also a solid understanding of macroeconomic trends or key political issues regionally or globally that could affect one’s’ stocks or markets in general.”
You Need To Have
- Education in finance, commerce, and management
- Full knowledge of equity-based concepts
- Experience in using Excel in various equity calculations
- Soft skills of excellent critical thinking, written and verbal communication, and problem-solving
Top Tech Skills To Learn For Equity Research
Here are some of the top skills that can get you in equity research jobs for sure,
- Financial statement analysis
- Financial modeling
- Modular Approach
- Intrinsic valuation method
- Extrinsic valuation method
- Enterprise valuation method
- Excell
Here are some online courses to help you learn more about equity research,
- Financial modeling and equity research hands on
- Equity research and financial modeling
- Financial modeling foundations
Full Stack Developer
Full stack developers are basically the developers who have a profound knowledge of every step of software development, specifically the frontend and backend development. They can handle all the work from databases to hosting to systems engineering. Moreover, they can also work with UX, UI, APIs, QI, security, and whatnot!
Although they don’t necessarily have to be an expert in each and everything, they are supposed to know all the working principles of software development.
You Need To Have In
- Vast experience in working with several stages of software development for multiple years
- Proficiency in multiple programming languages
- Strong coding and programming skills
- Soft skills of good communication, time management, creativity, and critical thinking
Top Tech Skills To Learn For Full-Stack Development
This is one of the most in-demand jobs at LinkedIn and which pays the most too. Learning following skills can be one of the best investments in 2019,
- HTML5
- CSS 3
- Angular JS
- Java Spring
- Asp.Net/ PHP/ RoR/ Node.js
- MySQL/ MsSQL
- Hibernate
- JQuery
- UX
- UI
Here are some online courses to help you learn more about full-stack developer,
- Become a full stack developer
- Beginner full web stack development: HTML, CSS, React, and Node
- Full stack web and multiplatform mobile app development specialization
Conclusion
Although many people think that the upcoming era of digitization means the absolute doom of the human kind, that’s not the case at all. With the AI and computers entering the field, there are more chances of the promotion of the fields that not only demand high-quality tech skills but will also pay the most.
It’s only foremost to be better equipped for the condition of any kind, and knowing what’s going on in the present and what’s going to happen in the future includes it. If you practice all the trending skills that will be needed for quite some time right from this moment, it will only secure you a sound position in the future workforce.
Just like George Herbert has said,
“Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.”
If you have skills, you can flourish even in the worst of the conditions. So start right from this moment. We have only best wishes for you.
Don’t forget to comment your opinions on the future of jobs and any query regarding the soft and hard skills. We’ll make sure to get right back to you as soon as possible.
