Are you in the market for a new job? Is 2019 the year that you decide to make a change in your career? If you answered yes to either of those questions, then you need to get an idea of what skills are in demand for 2019. I’ve written many articles on this subject, and most of them tend to lean heavily on the technical side, certifications, etc. I believe that in 2019, technical certifications will carry less weight than they used to. I see a trend in companies, inside and outside of Silicon Valley, where soft skills are starting to become more important. Lots of projects are manned not by one person, but by a team of people. To be an effective team player, you need certain soft skills to compliment your technical skills to be successful. Let’s take a look at some of the most in demand technical and soft skills for 2019.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is becoming the king of the datacenter. With more and more adoption each year, cloud computing is poised to have a big 2019. Security measures are getting better, government entities are trusting the cloud and there are new cloud based certifications that pop up every year. I realize the term cloud computing is pretty broad, so what areas of cloud computing should you focus on this year? Amazon, Amazon, Amazon. Amazon’s cloud computing platform is taking the market by storm. VMware’s cloud offering caved to Amazon’s stiff competition, and instead focused on forging a partnership with Amazon going forward. Learn Amazon Web Services — take advantage of some of their online free training. Other options are training for Microsoft’s cloud offering, Azure. Find training on Azure and become proficient at it; Microsoft is staking a bigger than expected claim in the cloud space.
Adaptability to Change
Is this a skill? I actually believe it is, and it’s become a very necessary skill to learn. If you work in the IT career field, you already know that it’s an ever changing landscape. New technologies crop up every year, and there are many companies out there that will adopt these newer technologies and expect you to figure out how to maintain it. If you only focused on Dell storage your whole career and all of a sudden your company does a forklift upgrade to NetApp storage, you have to be willing to learn a new system – or get a new job. Adaptability applies not just to technology changes, but also personnel changes. In many of our job roles we are tasked to work as a team, and sometimes that proves difficult. Learning to adapt to change can help greatly in this area. Adapting to change means being flexible, and being flexible opens up so many possibilities for success.
Mobility/Mobility Security
The ability to work remotely has increased steadily over the years and mobile and Internet technology has made advances. With a 4G connection, we can connect and work on spreadsheets in real time with other colleagues, hold virtual boardroom meetings with WebEx and Skype for Business, and we can check and answer emails as needed on the go. Learning to become proficient with enterprise mobility suites such as VMware Workspace One (formerly AirWatch) can help you to safely and accurately provide corporate resources to your workforce on the go. With more and more corporations allowing their employees to access corporate resources on their personal mobile devices, it has become increasingly important to secure those resources. Mobility security is a very in demand skill set for 2019 and going forward.
Thinking Outside the Box
This is one of the most overused, cliché terms I can think of, but it rings true, especially for 2019. Thinking outside of the box also means creativity or innovation — two terms all over the values statements of major defense industry employers. Companies don’t want employees that will just follow the status quo when it comes to bringing solutions to market or managing a datacenter. There are times when the traditional way of doing things won’t cut it. That’s when you need to get creative and find new ways to do old things. Companies love bringing in a new employee and putting them on a lagging project to see if their fresh set of eyes can see new ways to accomplish what has become stale. Learning this skill can open up lots of doors for you.
…and Much More
There are so many other intangibles that companies want to see in their employees, which is why I’ll go back to my earlier statement — soft skills are king for 2019. There are more companies that will hire you and train you on a technology or process if you have the right soft skills and fit in with their philosophies. Spend some time early this year polishing up your soft skills and see what a difference it can make.
