New tech advancements can leave you with a lot of questions. Are your current skills still relevant? What new skills do you need to learn? How can you meet your career goals in the ever-changing technology landscape?

You might not know the answers, but there is a way to set yourself up for success in the face of AI and other emerging technologies. From technical skills to professional skills and soft skills, we cover the essentials you need to adapt to new tech faster and solidify your career—no matter what the future holds.

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Table of contents
Essential technical skills to learn
Cloud computing concepts, services, and architectures
Data science and data analytics
Proficiency in at least one programming language
Cybersecurity, DevOps, and DevSecOps best practices
Essential professional skills and soft skills for technologists
Technical skill certifications to earn when upskilling
Continuous improvement: The most important skill for a tech career
Essential technical skills to learn
AI isn’t the first tech innovation, and it won’t be the last. Building foundational skills and knowledge of underlying technologies will help you adapt to any tech environment.

Here are some essential technology skills to learn:

Cloud computing concepts, services, and architectures
Cloud technology powers most systems and IT operations. Understanding cloud fundamentals and gaining cloud skills across AWS, Azure, and GCP will give you a solid foundation to build from regardless of your specific role. 

“Familiarity with cloud computing concepts, services, and architectures is increasingly essential,” says Drew Firment, Pluralsight’s Chief Cloud Strategist.

Already confident in your cloud skills? Explore cloud security and frugal cloud architecture to fill industry-wide skills gaps.

Data science and data analytics
As AI/ML grows, essential data skills will become even more important. 

“The fuel for AI/ML is data. Data science and data analysis skills will be crucial, including the understanding of cleaning and transforming data before providing it to AI/ML models,” explains Faye Ellis, Principal Training Architect at Pluralsight.

Even if you’re not a data scientist, it’s crucial to understand the big picture and identify when data may be flawed, incomplete, or inaccurate.

Proficiency in at least one programming language
Coding is key for software development, cloud computing, and automation. Python, Java, and JavaScript are widely used languages, but it’s important to think about what you’ll use a programming language for, not just the language itself.

“For me, it's much less about the language, and more about your ability to recognize what options are available to you in the platform and language you're already comfortable with,” says Simon Allardice, Creative Director and Principal Author at Pluralsight.

Cybersecurity, DevOps, and DevSecOps best practices
Emerging technologies inevitably create new security threats and disrupt existing processes. Consider how AI has already augmented social engineering and enabled more sophisticated cyber attacks.

To adapt to and defend against new technologies with minimal lag, understand effective security measures and get familiar with DevOps and DevSecOps best practices to identify ways to use new advancements to streamline operations.

Get hands-on experience with cybersecurity foundations.

Essential professional skills and soft skills for technologists
As important as technical skills are, soft skills are just as important—perhaps even more so. Develop these essential soft skills to level up your tech career. 

Agility

Communication

Problem solving

Creativity

Critical thinking and observation

Empathy

Time management

Some professional skills combine technology skills and soft skills.

Explore prompt engineering and how you can use it in your role, whether you’re an IT administrator, data scientist, business professional, marketer, or creative

Learn technical writing to aid prompt engineering and communicate complex technical information to audiences with different skill levels

Understand the ethical considerations of emerging technologies to use and build tech responsibly

Build the soft skills you need in today’s workplace.

Technical skill certifications to earn when upskilling
Certifications can add a boost to your resume and showcase your technical expertise, even if you lack a traditional university degree. Some certifications that continue to be in high demand include:

AWS Solutions Architect Associate

AWS Developer Associate

AWS Security Specialty

AWS Data Engineer Associate

AWS Machine Learning Specialty

Azure AI Engineer Associate

AWS also launched the new AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate certification. This new certification highlights the data skills gap and the need for quality data engineers who can analyze and manipulate data, work with AI models, and drive business outcomes.

“When Microsoft makes OpenAI certs, those should be pretty popular. Information Security is always a winner,” adds Tim Warner, Principal Author for IT Ops at Pluralsight.

But certifications aren’t the only way to show off your skills—completing portfolio projects and gaining hands-on experience at bootcamps and hackathons are also valuable ways to demonstrate your knowledge.