Top Skills Needed for Software Engineers

If you want to land a $100k+ remote job offer as a software engineer in 2025, I would 100% suggest you invest your time in these technologies (based on my experience from the last 15+ years). 1/AI agents are the hottest thing right now - half of SF is building agent startups, why? Because they’re the closest thing to AI automation before AGI. - think of them as LLMs that make decisions, automate workflows, and interact with real-world apps (Gmail, WhatsApp, databases). - startups are racing to build voice agents, chatbot-based automation, and AI-driven assistants and they need engineers who know how to integrate LLMs with real-world APIs. - learn LangChain, OpenAI API, and automation frameworks to get into this space. 2/ Browser automation is the secret weapon for AI companies - Many AI companies need their models to control and interact with websites, booking flights, scraping data, handling forms. - Startups like Induced AI and Browserless are being built purely to automate browser interactions. - If you learn Selenium, Playwright, and Puppeteer, you can land jobs in AI companies that need large-scale browser automation for their systems. 3/ Vs code extensions and developer tools are printing money - AI-powered developer tools are booming, Cursor, Cody, and Devika are at billion-dollar valuations. - Understanding how VS Code works under the hood, how to build extensions, and how to index and parse large codebases efficiently is a valuable skill. - Want to future-proof your skills? Learn how to build AI-powered coding assistants or improve existing developer workflows. 4/DevOps and cybersecurity will never go out of demand - Every company hitting scale needs DevOps engineers to optimize cloud costs, monitor infrastructure, and automate CI/CD. - Good DevOps engineers are rare, and companies pay massive salaries for experts who can save them millions on AWS bills. - Cybersecurity is another evergreen skill. Even AI-written code will have security vulnerabilities. If you understand penetration testing, bug bounties, and infrastructure security, you will always be in demand. 5/ AI image and video generation will only grow -Companies like Runway, Ideogram, and Midjourney are disrupting design, media, and content generation. - Learning diffusion models, LLM-based video generation, and AI-powered media tools will put you in one of the fastest-growing industries. - This is a difficult field to break into, but if you can build AI-powered media tools, you’ll be ahead of 99% of developers. Pick a field, go deep, and build real things. AI is making engineers 10x more productive, which means companies are hiring fewer, but better engineers. Don’t just learn—show proof of work.

Powering Your Career with Cloud-Native Skills In today's rapidly evolving tech landscape, cloud-native skills are not just nice-to-have – they're essential. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱-𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲? Scalability: Easily adapt to changing demands Security: Built-in best practices for data protection Flexibility: Adapt resources to match exact needs, potentially optimizing costs Agility: Faster deployment and updates Top Cloud-Native Skills to Develop: 1. Containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)    - Package and run applications consistently across environments 2. Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation)    - Automate infrastructure provisioning and management 3. CI/CD Pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions)    - Streamline software delivery and deployment processes 4. Observability & Monitoring (Prometheus, Grafana)    - Gain insights into application performance and health 5. Cloud Security    - Implement best practices for securing cloud-native applications 6. Serverless Computing (AWS Lambda, Azure Functions)    - Build and run applications without managing servers 7. Microservices Architecture    - Design scalable and maintainable distributed systems 8. Cloud Databases (Amazon DynamoDB, Google Cloud Spanner)    - Leverage managed database services for scalability and performance Investing in these skills can open doors to exciting opportunities in cloud engineering, DevOps, and platform development roles. Which of these skills are you currently focusing on? Any others you'd add to the list?

Here are some essential skills I suggest mastering to differentiate yourself in today's tough tech job market, especially in prompt engineering: 1. Cloud Computing and Containerization: - Get to know cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud - Gain experience with containerization tools such as Docker and Kubernetes 2. Data Analysis and Business Intelligence: - Become proficient in data analysis tools such as Excel, SQL, Python, Tableau, or Power BI - Learn to extract insights from data and present them effectively 3. Cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking: - Understand network security, penetration testing, and incident response - Familiarize yourself with tools and techniques used in ethical hacking 4. DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering: - Hands-on experience with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines - Know infrastructure as code, monitoring, and automation 5. Full-Stack Web Development: - Master both front-end (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Angular) and back-end (Node.js, Python, Ruby on Rails) technologies - Grasp web application architecture and design patterns 6. Mobile App Development: - Specialize in building native or cross-platform mobile apps for iOS and Android - Understand mobile-specific frameworks and best practices 7. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence: - Experience with machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, or scikit-learn - Know data preprocessing, model training, and deployment 8. Prompt Engineering: - Develop the skill to craft effective prompts for language models like GPT-3 or ChatGPT - Understand prompt design principles and techniques to optimize model outputs 9. Soft Skills: - Cultivate effective communication and presentation skills - Sharpen problem-solving, critical thinking, and adaptability - Foster teamwork, collaboration, and leadership abilities Focus on developing a mix of technical skills and soft skills that are highly sought after and match the current tech industry needs. Stay updated with the newest technologies, trends, and best practices, including prompt engineering, to stand out and boost your chances of landing a rewarding role in this competitive job market.

Forget what you know about "must-have" skills. New Coursera data shows how to future-proof your career. 📊 New data shows that 70% of leaders would choose AI-savvy candidates with less experience over seasoned professionals who lack AI skills. A recent Forbes analysis reveals what actually drives success in the AI era: 🛜 Technical Foundation - AI fluency is becoming as fundamental as math or language skills. With an 866% surge in generative AI course enrollments, professionals who adapt early are pulling ahead. 🗣️ Human Skills Premium - While AI handles tactical tasks, strategic thinking and relationship building remain irreplaceable human domains. Top emerging skills include risk mitigation, assertiveness, and stakeholder communication. 🛡️ Cybersecurity Focus - 6 of the top 10 fastest-growing tech skills are cybersecurity-related, reflecting our evolving digital landscape. It's not about choosing between human skills and AI proficiency—it's about mastering both. The most valuable professionals will be those who can leverage AI while excelling at uniquely human capabilities. 🗝️ As Coursera's CEO puts it: "Generative AI will be important for anyone who thinks, anyone who makes decisions, and anyone who communicates." What's your strategy for developing this dual skillset? #artificialintelligence #changemanagement #futureofwork

🚀 The Future of Skills… I came across the attached visual. While I don’t necessarily understand the interpretation of the axes entirely, a few observations that stood out to me: 1️⃣ AI & Data Expertise Tops the List • No surprise here—anyone who works in our field would expect AI and data to demand even more attention in the future. It’s already a critical capability today, and by 2030, it will be even more indispensable. • It’s not just AI expertise—it explicitly says AI & Data Expertise. This reinforces what many of us already emphasize: AI is only as good as the data feeding it. Before you can generate insights with AI, you need strong foundational data management and governance. 2️⃣ Cybersecurity Jumps in Importance • Cybersecurity in the top left—suggesting that while it may not be seen as “key today” (which employers think that?!) it will be a major priority by 2030. 3️⃣ Some Skills Are Evergreen • While certain skills gain or lose relevance, some remain consistently critical—like critical thinking, adaptability, idea generation, and strategic problem-solving. These are the skills that help you thrive in uncertainty. • In my own teams, these are the qualities I prioritize whenever I have the luxury of doing so. Tools and technologies evolve, but if you stay sharp, flexible, and open to learning, you’ll always stay relevant. 4️⃣ Some “Declining” Skills That Stand Out • Mentoring and Quality Assurance are listed as skills that will matter less. As AI and automation take over manual tasks, I’d expect mentoring to remain important in guiding teams through complexity. And quality assurance? I’d argue that ensuring accuracy and trust in data-driven decisions will be even more crucial, at least in some cases. • Multilingual skills are another one that made me pause. I became fluent in Spanish a few years ago after a few tough months of immersion, and I still admire people who speak multiple languages (especially if they’re foundationally very different). Understandable that technology may partially eliminate the need for language skills… but also a little bittersweet, at least to me. There’s something uniquely human about mastering different languages and cultures - or so we may have thought. 💡 Curious to hear from you—what stands out to you in this visual? Any surprises? Any interpretations you disagree with?