Despite all of the negativity and disasters that are going on in the world right now, one can safely say that we live in the best period in human history when it comes to amenities such as access to clean water as well as an abundance of food and medicine.
The modern age has also blessed us with a variety of technological tools that can be used to our advantage every single day — smartphones have changed the way we communicate, commute, as well as take in information about the world around us.
Although modern technology and advancements in other fields have rendered many hard skills that were sought after in the past unnecessary, they’ve provided us with a whole another set of challenges, requiring us to reevaluate our skills in order to adapt to the times. Keep reading to see if you’ve got the basic hard skills needed to make it in the modern age.
Web Design and Navigating the Internet
We’re not talking about knowing how to use a browser or look something up in Google. If you don’t know how to do that in 2020, then how on Earth did you pull up that article in the first place?
Utilizing the power of the Internet to your advantage is especially important if you’re running a business. There is no need to overpay a tech-savvy twenty-something-year-old web designer for something you can do yourself, such as creating and designing a website using free, open-source software — it’s not too hard, and with the correct plug-ins, you’ll be able to create your own website in no time.
The Internet is everything in the 21st century, and skills such as web design and basic content management are a must if you want to grow your business. Don’t worry — you most likely will never have to figure out how to fix a hacked WordPress site, but a fundamental understanding of WordPress’s mechanics can save you a ton of time and money.
Writing
The art of writing is becoming more and more important in the age of the Internet and omnipresent content marketing.
You need to be able to whip out good content on a regular basis if you want your business or other activities to thrive in the online marketplace. Blogs, social media posts and good advertising copy will all work wonders for your online presence — with good, professionally written and optimized content, your site will be more visible on the Internet, reaching more potential customers.
Even if you’re not an entrepreneur yourself, most employers will value a candidate with solid writing skills over other people — they can simply drive much more traffic and generate more interest around the company.
Data analysis
Analytical skills are all the rage right now. Data analysis is not only used to predict future market tendencies or customer preferences nowadays. In the age of Big Data, advertising companies pay big bucks for good data analysts, who can properly interpret trends and help solidify an efficient marketing strategy based on those trends.
Data analysis is not only in high demand, but also still not that common yet. If you take the appropriate steps to try and master these skills, it will look very good on your resume and all but guarantee you a job!
Programming
This one is probably the most difficult skill to learn, and even harder to master. Coding is pretty much what makes the go world round in 2020, as most of the applications and programs are based on those colored lines of code that most of us mere mortals cannot decipher. Even the operating systems that run those programs and give you the user-friendly graphical interface you wouldn’t be able to use a computer without have been coded at one point in time.
Once you master a programming language such as Python or Java, you’ll be able to find work in a multitude of companies, big and small. If you’re really good at it and know more than one language, employers will basically throw themselves at you in order to secure your services.
Software developers are amongst the best-paid groups in the world, as well as most likely to find remote work — if you play your cards correctly, this hard skill will allow you to sustain a traveler’s lifestyle and work from any place on Earth!
