Which IT Skills Are Most in Demand in 2024?

The tech industry courses people are taking online can tell a lot about which information technology (IT) skills are in demand and what paths to careers look like today. Udemy, an online learning platform that collects data quarterly about which courses on its platform are most in demand, has recently revealed the tech and IT skills from their Q1 2024 report. Explore these in-demand IT skills to help choose where your tech career should go next.

The top 10 global emergent tech skills are:

1. Informatica PowerCenter
2. Microsoft Playwright
3. 1Z0-071: Oracle Database SQL Certified Associate Certification
4. CompTIA Security+ Certification
5. DP-203: Microsoft Azure Data Engineer Associate Certification
6. SAP FICO
7. Data Structures
8. Java Algorithms
9. HashiCorp Terraform Associate Certification
10. Selenium Web Driver

Tech skills that cropped up in the top emergent skills include:

• Git
• Oracle SQL
• C#
• Amazon AWS & AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
• Python

English as a second language (ESL), sustainability and ChatGPT were also popular topics. One of Udemy’s most popular courses is the TOEIC Tests, a standard for English as a second language appropriate for business. Udemy attributes this to multinational businesses using English as their primary language. Udemy learners were interested in Spanish as well, with that language appearing as sixth on the list of top 10 global emergent professional skills.

The full list includes the following:

1. TOEIC Tests
2. Bookkeeping
3. Marketing Strategy
4. Supply Chain
5. Business Analytics
6. Spanish Language
7. Information Security (IS)
8. Deep Learning
9. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)
10. Financial Analysis

Environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related courses were remarkably popular. Overall, Udemy saw a 3,128% year-over-year increase in ESG course consumption. Only one topic grew in popularity more than ESG: ChatGPT. Interest in ChatGPT-related courses grew by 5,226% in Q1 2023 alone. ESG-related topics available as courses on Udemy include corporate sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and business cases for corporate ESG. However, Udemy isn’t the only place to find courses on IT skills, and the skills popular on Udemy aren’t the only skills employers are seeking. LinkedIn listed AI and machine learning as the most in-demand IT skills in 2024, followed by data science and cybersecurity. Indeed found that GenAI was the highest-paid field in the industry.

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) lists the following as the top five IT skills in demand in 2024:

1. AI
2. Technical Support
3. Networking
4. Cloud Computing
5. Linux

Tech is clearly a growing and lucrative field. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were nearly 364,000 open job postings for tech jobs in December 2023. Computer and IT occupations are predicted to grow faster than most jobs through 2032, and the median annual salary in the field is $104,420.

Source: TechRepublic