25 Feb Quarantined? Top 3 Tech Skills Assignees Should Learn ASAP 

Tech workers who continually upgrade their skills will never run out of work, as organizations that are always trying to stay on top of the next tech revolution will want them for their in-demand skills. One other asset of this kind of employee or assignee is that they are lifelong learners; their passion to acquire new knowledge and capabilities will prevent them from being obsolete. 

Companies who do get to keep them also preserve their bottom line and stop the usual financial bleeding that comes with a rapid turnover in the workforce. According to the CIMS’ white paper on the hiring of tech talent, replacement of a skilled employee siphons off revenues from the company in the amount of $680 a day. The resulting unproductivity can also hinder profitability, as it will take roughly 66 days to fill up that vacant position.

One way to neutralize this trend is to encourage assignees to take their talents to the next tech level. That can mean investing in an online class that issues certifications which do indicate a significant level of mastery. 

Global mobility managers can also keep an eye out for candidates who do have knowledge or training in the skills that are preferred by almost every company in the U.S., from New York to San Francisco.

Here is a list of the top three tech skills that will be in demand from the year 2020 and beyond:

Python:  Towards Data Science names Python as the current leader of all programming languages today. The top five unicorn companies in the United States actually use Python over its competitors including Java. It is simply indispensable to the three IT processes that support a company’s digital structure and processes: data analysis, infrastructure management, and software development. An assignee who has mastered Python can perform any one or all of these functions. They can also leverage it to spin off into career tracks like data analysis, machine learning engineering, research analysis, and software engineering.

Machine learning: The MIT Technology Review simplifies the more complex definition of machine learning: the ability to spot patterns and trends from huge amounts of data, and then program them into an algorithm that uses artificial intelligence (AI). Data is not restricted to numbers or statistics but also covers text, images, videos, and other forms of content. While the process itself requires technological sophistication, its results can be disarmingly user-friendly. One example are the quick voiceover answers given by Siri or Alexa to your questions. Another are the movie recommendations that Netflix and other video-streaming services flash on your dashboard, all of them based on your previous movie selections. 

Amazon Web Services (AWS):  The assignee who is highly skilled in this area can become the champion who can propel their organization to scale and grow. As Noteworthy describes it, AWS basically means managing Jeff Bezos’ massive cloud computing platform, which performs the entire range of services necessary for e-commerce. These include running websites and their back-end services, data storage, database management, email and related digital communications, and the content delivery networks (CDN). 

A cursory look at some of these tech skills may seem incomprehensible to the uninitiated. But global mobility managers should take note of them and spot them once they appear on an assignee’s resume or their “must-learn” list. In a world of intense competition, it would not hurt if they themselves take a few classes in these subjects.