As the world becomes increasingly digitized, becoming tech-savvy is no longer a bonus in the workplace but a standard expectation. Whether you work in IT, marketing, sales, product development, finance or law, it’s likely that your job requires some level of technology skill.
Tech skills are generally considered to be hard skills, as opposed to soft skills, which are personal attributes like communication and patience. They can be learned and improved with time and practice, but they usually also require formal training or certification. This makes them an important part of any professional’s skill set, and a good way to showcase your competency on a resume.
The first step in deciding what tech skills to learn is assessing your current skillset. Then, identify what tech areas interest you and the types of jobs they exist in. From there, you can begin fleshing out your learning — perhaps by taking a few free online courses on topics like coding or web design.
It’s also a good idea to research what specific companies are looking for in their employees, so you know the type of tech-related skills they expect to see on applications. For example, if the company you’re applying to uses a certain platform that you aren’t familiar with, it can help your chances of getting the job to mention this on your application or during an interview.
It’s also helpful to keep in mind that the most valuable tech skills are those that are “future proof.” Although it might seem like robots/computers are taking over human jobs (think self-driving cars and retail chatbots), there are still people behind these technologies who need to maintain and update them.