What Skills Should Tech Professionals Be Developing?

Tech is a quickly evolving sector, where computers are being increasingly used to automate processes and make them more efficient. With this, it's important that professionals are able to develop their skills in the right areas to ensure they stay competitive and secure lucrative roles.

In order to do this, you need to know what expertise will be most in demand in the future. Although nothing short of a crystal ball can do that with complete certainty, there are certain trends that have been emerging and developing in IT, which should help you hone your skills for the future.

Business intelligence

The number of companies using data to influence their business is growing rapidly and, as such, tech professionals that can understand the information they are gathering is becoming valuable expertise. As the amount of data collected grows, as is expected by many experts, the need to properly and effectively interpret this will be what sets candidates apart when it comes to the most lucrative roles. Professionals with the best business intelligence skills will be able to take data and see how tech will affect or improve overall business goals.

Project management

Much like communication skills, project management is an important part of modern business regardless of what role you're in. Tech professionals that can manage their own work independently, but also balance this with the needs of the team and the goals of the overall project, will be priceless for companies over the next few years.

Mobile optimization

This has been a good skill to have in recent years, but it will become absolutely essential for those working in IT in the future. With Google introducing its mobile-first index, companies will need to prioritize these web pages to enjoy the most SEO success in the future. This means that tech professionals need to build and develop with this in mind and having a solid understanding of how different devices affect different aspects of a project will be crucial.

Security

As companies invest more money into security, professionals that can take responsibility for it will be the most in demand. This will involve not just IT security but looking at how this involves the rest of the business, especially as device management continues to grow in importance.

Tech support

Often there is a bit of a gulf between IT professionals and users, meaning that it can take a long time for problems to be resolved as each party tries to understand what the other needs from them. This means that tech professionals that are experienced or particularly talented at this level of support are a massive advantage to businesses. Being able to identify the key root of a user problem and suggesting a realistic solution quickly can save both time and money, while also instilling confidence and loyalty in customers.