Many experts and senior specialists in economics, such as the founder of the World Economy Forum Klaus Schwab, think that automation and artificial intelligence is about to take us to the so-called fourth industrial revolution, or the Internet revolution. 

Clearly this has been having a dramatic impact on production media and on the work skills required by the industry, especially as regards technology, which is basically defined by mutating and evolving at an accelerated pace.

If you’re an IT programming freelancer, you must surely know the importance of being updated on digital trends to stay competitive and keep achieving good clients and interesting projects. This article talks precisely about that -the most demanded skills in your industry for this 2019. 

Ready?

Which skills lead the current market of technology and programming? 

According to the Global Skills Index 2019 by Coursera platform, the most important competencies and skills currently required -which have changed the IT and Programming world of work- are the following:

Competencies

1. Computer networks (+56%)
2. Databases (+22%)
3. Security engineering (+18%)
4. Software engineering (+11%)

Skills

1. Data structure
2. Web Scraping
3. Database models
4. SQL
5. Apache Beam
6. Blockchains
7. Data modeling
8. Cloud services
9. CSS
10. Mobile ad hoc networks

It is also important to consider those directly related to data management or Big Data:

Competencies

1. Machine Learning (+14%)
2. Statistical programming (+9%)
3. Data management (+5%)
4. Data visualization (+3%)

Skills

1. Python 
2. Bigtable 
3. Support vector machine 
4. Database management systems
5. Artificial neural network Numpy 
6. Multi-tasking learning
7. Word2Vec 
8. Word embedding 
9. Speech transfer

Those with full command of these skills and knowledge in the area of technology are going to experience much better job opportunities in the near future. Coursera report also sheds light on some extra details worth mentioning:

• Two thirds of the world population lacks critical skills to face current demand for employment.
• 80% of skills on technology, business and data management can be found in developed European countries.
• In Latin America (and all over the world), Argentina tops the IT work skills league, while Mexico and Colombia are among those at the bottom of the list. 
• The demand of data management and IT-related skills is on the rise, as the demand of business skills appears to be declining. 
• IT professionals usually count on weak business skills, such as leadership, management and communication, which represents an important opportunity for development.

Our figures at Workana

As you can see, trends on the educational and training world in IT and programming provide some strong hints on the skills and tools most demanded by companies, but how is that reflected in the real world of work? 

According to data obteined from projects held through our platform, these are the most required specific skills in the area of IT and programing:

1. PHP
2. JavaScript
3. MySQL
4. HTML5
5. WordPress
6. HTML
7. CSS
8. API
9. Android
10.  Responsive Web Design

Similarly, the growth projections for this year against the figures of 2018 show that several fields on IT and programming will experience a strong increase in demand: 

Conclusions

Below you’ll find four practical tips that will help you get more and better projects on IT and programming:

1.- Update your database and web programming language skills

The most demanded area this year has to do with web programming languages, apps, security and database management. if you haven’t taken an updating course on the latest trends, it’s high time that you did so! Actually, there are many options in hand, even for free, that you can find on the web. Here you’ll find some!

• Building Web Applications in PHP
• Databases and SQL for Data Science
• Using Python to Access Web Data
• IT Security: Defense against the digital dark arts
• Responsive Website Basics: Code with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

You can also check out Udemy’s choices: https://www.udemy.com/topic/php

2.- Venture into artificial intelligence and machine learning RIGHT NOW!

We might not have seen it so clearly yet that there’s a boost in skills related to machine learning and artificial intelligence, but figures are straight-forward:it’ll happen pretty soon, so we’d better anticipate to it and get to know as much as possible about it. Below, some related training:

• Machine Learning
• Program on Data Engineering, Big Data, and Machine Learning on GCP
• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Introduction to TensorFlow for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning

3.- Get trained in business skills

In order to grow as a professional, companies and self-employed talent in IT and programming also need to develop extra skills related to negotiation, management and entrepreneurship. Don’t ignore them! Statistics show that those combining IT competencies with some specific business skills have an outstanding labor outlook. 

4.- Make the most of remote work (and practice your English!)

Although the ranking of IT and programming skills is strongly polarized according to regions and countries, freelancing allows professionals with the right skills to make the most of opportunities and remote projects across the world.

At Workana we’ve seen how more and more freelancers start working on projects from every continent. So, no matter where you are, if you get proper training and you have fluent English, you’ll access a very wide range of interesting, well-paid projects. 

What are you waiting for to get updated? At Workana we want to see you develop professionally. That’s why we’re always providing updated information to support the best decisions along your freelance career.