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6 tech skills you need to stay relevant - Business Insider

6 tech skills you need to stay

relevant in 2015
AARON SKONNARD, ENTREPRENEUR
JAN. 30, 2015, 2:55 PM

We're not big on setting

resolutions only in January
at Pluralsight. We believe
it's important to strive for
excellence year-round,
rather than just once a year.
That said, there's value in
using the year's starter
months to reassess your
current skill sets and
identify areas for
improvement, growth,
and learning.
Technology is one area that
no one in any industry can
afford to grow complacent
about tech is changing so
Flickr/Roland Tanglao
quickly that skills you
mastered last year may
already be outdated. In
such a quickly evolving industry, information decays at a rate of 30 percent a year,
according to Research in Labor Economics, rendering nearly a third of last year's techrelated knowledge irrelevant.
But don't panic there's a solution. Staying up-to-date with emergent technologies and
trends as well as the skills needed to master them will help you offset the lightningfast pace of skills disruption and keep you ahead of the curve. Continuous learning is the
key to maintaining an ongoing competitive advantage, both for individuals and
organizations.
On that note, here are the top six tech skills that Pluralsight has identified as not just
"nice to know," but "need to know," in 2015:

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6 tech skills you need to stay relevant - Business Insider

1. Coding.
As I've written recently, coding is the number-one skill in demand today worldwide.
Although coding and computer science are still marginalized in the K-12 education
system, it's clear that the ability to code has become as important as other basic forms of
literacy like reading and math.
Fortunately, no matter what your age or current comfort level with technology, there are
ways to pick up intro coding skills and many of them are free. Start with Code School,
which provides interactive learn-to-code challenges along with entertaining video
instruction, or Hour of Code, which offers a free one-hour coding tutorial that's available
in over 30 languages.

2. Big data.
According to Forbes, big data will continue to grow in 2015, due in part to the rise of the
Internet of Things, which has the power to embed technology in practically anything. As
ever-larger volumes of data are created, it's vital to know how to collect and analyze that
data particularly when it's related to customer preferences and business processes.
No matter what industry you're in, you'll miss out on key marketing and decision-making
opportunities by ignoring big data. You can brush up on big data concepts, technologies,
and vendors with these courses.

3. Cloud computing.
TechRadar reported this month that 2015 will be the year that the cloud becomes the
"new normal." The reason, writes Mark Barrenechea, CEO of OpenText, is that costs can
be slashed as much as 90 percent through digitization of information-intensive processes.
Barrenechea predicts that by year-end, we'll see "a world of hybrid deployments in which
some information and applications reside in the cloud and the remainder resides onpremise."
Learning to utilize the cloud's flexible power can improve everything from your data
security to your collaboration ability. Learn cloud-computing basics with this hourlong online course, which you can view in full with afree trial from Pluralsight, or try
this free intro course on the topic from ALISON.

4. Mobile.
As Six Dimensions states, "If you don't have a mobile strategy, you don't have a future
strategy." This has never been truer than in 2015, the year in which The
Guardianpredicts an increasing number of companies will learn how to mobilize their
revenue-generating processes, like making purchases and depositing checks.
This is also the year that we'll hit critical mass with the fusion of mobile and cloud
computing, according to Forbes. That means many more centrally coordinated apps will
be usable on multiple devices. Here's a list of beginner-level courses related to mobile
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6 tech skills you need to stay relevant - Business Insider

technology from Pluralsight, as well as options for mobile apps courses from Lynda.com.

5. Data visualization.
Data keeps multiplying, which means whatever message you hope to communicate online
must find increasingly creative ways to break through the noise. That's where data
visualization comes in, which involves using a visual representation of the data to discover
new information and breakthroughs. Creative Bloq notes that this technique can reveal
details that poring through dry data can't.
Fortunately, you don't have to be a web designer or developer to create compelling
infographics. Here's a list of 10 free tools you can use to visually enhance your data.

6. UX design skills.
User experience (UX) designers consider the end user's ease of use, efficiency, and
general experience of interfacing with a system (such as a website or
application). Smashing Magazine notes that while user experience has long been
important, it has become more so recently in relation to the diverse ways that users can
now access websites, including mobile and apps.
"The more complex the system, the more involved will the planning and architecture
have to be for it," writes Jacob Gube. But it's not just professional designers who can
benefit from understanding UX design anyone can. Check out this animated video from
UXmastery on "How to Get Started in UX Design."
These six tech trends are reshaping the way businesses in every industry function
internally and connect with their customers. Get smart in these areas, and you won't
have to worry about being left behind at least not this year.
This article originally appeared at Entrepreneur. Copyright 2015. Follow Entrepreneur
on Twitter.
* Copyright 2015 Business Insider Inc. All rights reserved.

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