The Top 5 In-Demand Tech Skills For Jobs In 2023

Jobs are changing – to the point that it’s been predicted that 85% of the jobs college leavers of 2030 will have, haven’t been invented yet.

This means that skills will have to change, too. AI and automation will be a big driver of this as machines become capable of taking on more work. This means that rather than just automation of manual jobs, smart, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered machines will increasingly do jobs that require thought and decision-making.

So, where does this leave humans? Don’t worry; it’s unlikely we’re going to be completely redundant just yet. Rather, we will focus on tasks that machines just can’t do as well as we do (yet) – jobs that involve strategy, creativity, or emotional intelligence, for example.

In 2023 and beyond, I believe those who are successful in industry and enterprise will be developing skills that involve augmenting our abilities with smart machines and software while applying the “human touch” where it is needed. So, here’s my rundown of five skill sets that will help anyone set themselves up for the future.

Data communicators and storytellers will become increasingly sought-after and valuable to businesses as we move into 2023. This is because, according to research commissioned by Tableau from Forrester, by 2025, 70 percent of jobs will involve working directly with data. This means that every organization will need people with the skills to interpret, translate and communicate it.

This skill set is about the ability to communicate insights in ways that are effective – meaning putting them in the hands of the right people at the right time. However, they must also be engaging, which is where the storytelling element comes in. Skilled data storytellers are able to see and communicate the narrative around data. In practical terms, this could mean explaining where the insights come from, why they are important to the business, and how best to go about putting it to work.

Data storytellers use written communication as well as visualizations, tapping into tools such as PowerBI, Qlik, and Tableau to find the most efficient, memorable, and accurate methods of conveying insights. There’s a reason why storytelling has been humanity’s chosen medium for conveying important information going back to the days when stone age tribes would huddle around the fire at night. We are attuned to looking for meaning in them, remembering them, and passing on what we learn from them. As data becomes central to the strategies of more businesses, people with the skill to communicate and build stories from it will become increasingly valuable, which is why this skill makes my list of 2023’s most in-demand tech skills.

The explosion in home and remote working that began during the Covid-19 pandemic and is set to continue into 2023 means cyber security is essential to every company. No longer something that’s confined to IT departments, every employee will be expected to take responsibility for the security of the data they are entrusted with and for building resilience in their area of operations. However, that doesn’t mean that the specialized cyber security agent will become a thing of the past – far from it, in fact, as it’s predicted that up to 10 million professionals will be employed in the field during 2023.

What this means is that whether you plan to pursue it as a career path or simply add it to your resume to make you more marketable in whatever role you currently work in, cyber security skills will be among the most in-demand for the foreseeable future.

Home and remote working, the internet of things (IoT), and the ongoing migration of more and more aspects of our lives into the digital domain (as well as the metaverse) all have major implications for the ways in which cybercriminals can potentially make life unpleasant for us.