Against the fluctuating backdrop of 2020, human capital is majorly getting impacted owing to diverse factors like digital transformation; a quick evolution of basic tech skills; digital education tools and changing nature of entry-level job roles at work. In the current competitive climate, both the employers and aspiring candidates need to take notice of the skills that can help them establish a clear competitive advantage. 

For today’s talent in tech, it is clear that some skills will emerge superior to the others and will catalyse the journey to an ideal career in the changing tech landscape. It is important to understand what your chosen path entails in the tech territory in 2020.

Data Science: "Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century”, so proclaimed the Harvard Business Review in 2012. In the last two years alone, 90 per cent of the world’s data has been generated. Needless to say, the necessity to harness the same has also increased manifold across industries. 

Fullstack Developing: A Full Stack Developer role entails handling both the front and the back end. This can vary between designing websites and UI; to working on the code logic and SEO. Simply stated, a full-stack developer has the skills to complete a project independently. Another advantage that full-stack developers bring to the table is the ease of collaboration resulting in cross-functional value. 

UI/UX Design: The design and user experience of your application is a very important aspect of any technology product. The demand for UX designers is predicted to grow, not only in the tech industry but also in traditionally non-tech industries to develop lean, efficient, cost-effective tech solutions that are easier to adopt and seamless to use. A great UI/UX designer comes with not just the ability to develop a good interface but with a deep appreciation of user behaviour and needs. 

Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning: Automation is entering all aspects of interactions from customer service, online selling to predicting the best line of treatment for a medical condition, thanks to our ability to make machines learn and mimic human thought processes. The analysis of very large datasets is now made possible and, more importantly, affordable to most due to the emergence of ML platforms. Gartner depicts that AI/ML is expected to pave the way for close to 2.3 million jobs by the year 2020. The interest of the developer community in the field is also growing steadily. 

Mobile Developer: The app development industry has never boomed like this before, and will continue to grow with no end in sight. A mobile app developer needs to be proficient in IT programming, know the use of different operating systems and be adept in varied computer languages.

Artificial intelligence: AI specialists are in high demand, be it in the startup arena or the conglomerate territory, where organisations are looking for a unique machine led competitive advantage. Many predict that automation will create more jobs than it displaces. It will likely take a few years until some AI technologies become the norm for all trades. 

Cybersecurity: With more digital platforms, the chances of cybercrime are bound to increase. The complexity and connectivity of tech-based systems directly impacts their level of vulnerability. Thus, companies will need to employ different cybersecurity professionals to come up with comprehensive solutions for their data, network and systems security. Importance of this skillset increases several-fold in industries that handle very sensitive data like Banking & Financial Services and Life Sciences. 

With 2020 being officially labelled as the ‘Techtade’, the demand for tech professionals is definitely going to be overweighing the supply. If you are interested in a career in technology, consider specializing in the above skills needed for future-proofing your career path. Establishing your career with a strong base of tech skills is pivotal and will prove to be fruitful in the long run.