The move to work from home (WFH) and hybrid work was already in progress before the dramatic shutdown in early Spring 2020. Organizations were in the process of splitting up critical applications into hundreds or thousands of microservices and delivering them through private and public cloud infrastructures close to users. At the same time, people managers were hiring employees based on skills rather than location—creating the beginnings of the hybrid workforce. Then, as we all know, the disruptions caused by Covid-19 accelerated digital transformation, forcing organizations to scramble to execute five-year or longer cloud migrations plans overnight.
Now, more than two years into the New Normal, organizations are thinking about what’s next. And the consensus is that organizations are continuing to move forward with their cloud migration and cloud transformation plans on an accelerated schedule. According to Gartner, interest in cloud networking has increased 5x over the past 12 months while social media conversations around cloud networking have seen a 24% increase as well. This rise is creating a need for the skills necessary to successfully implement cloud transformation plans.
According to internal data into Credly’s digital credentials platform, the most popular technology skill acquired since March 2020 is ‘Cloud Services’ (328% growth since March 2020), followed by other cloud computing skills such as ‘Cloud Infrastructure,’ ‘Cloud Storage,’ ‘Cloud Security,’ and ‘Cloud Architecture.’ ‘Amazon Web Services’ and ‘Azure’ are also included in the top acquired technology skills:
The Credly data also shows that ‘Agile,’ ‘Scrum,’ ‘Project Management,’ and variations of ‘DevOps,’ ‘Network Security,’ and ‘Cybersecurity’ are all in the top 30 skills acquired since March 2020. In addition, the most frequent programming language skill verified by issued credentials issued since March 2020 is ‘Python.’
Interestingly, ‘Cloud Resources’ was the first cloud-related skill to appear on 2020’s most popular list, but has slightly dropped in demand, coming in at 26th. Credentials with ‘Network Security,’ ‘Risk Management,’ ‘Network Management,’ ‘DHCP,’ and ‘Project Management’ skills tags all placed near the top of the list of most frequently verified technology skills. Comparing the two lists (pre-March 2020 and post-March 2020) shows that organizations are continuing to move away from static network infrastructure strategies and are going all in on accelerated digital transformation and cloud migration projects in 2022.
While these in-demand skills may not pertain to every workplace, this list should give you an idea of skills to look out for when considering candidates or for upskilling employees. As a hiring or people manager, you need to know the new employees coming through the door and the ones who are already on your payroll have the most in-demand tech skills that your 2022 workplace needs.
See how upskilling your current employees’ skills sets can prepare your company for the future now.