Data Analytics to Coding: Which Technical Skills Will Give You an Employability Boost?

In the crowded and competitive job market of today, one of the best ways to stand out is by demonstrating a unique skill set. With industries across the board constantly evolving due to technical innovation, machine learning, big data, and AI, it’s not only prudent—but essential—to build your skills.

Identifying the core skills you'll need for the jobs of tomorrow is a key step. Often this includes soft skills such as communication and adaptability, which differ from hard, technical skills in more specialized areas. Though, if you’re looking to gain an employability boost then strengthening your technical skill set can have a large impact.

Happily, there’s a lot you can do to make yourself more employable by enhancing your technical skills. We spoke with industry expert Dr Christina Langer, honorary research fellow at UCL School of Management and postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, to find out what you need to know.

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What are Technical Skills? 

Technical skills are effectively what they sound like—they are the essential specialist abilities you need to do a specialized job well, often within the context of technology, data, or digital tools. 

“What counts as a technical skill depends heavily on the occupational context,” explains Dr Christina. “For a software engineer, it might be programming or cloud computing. For a project coordinator, it could include Microsoft Office proficiency, project management, or presentation skills.”

The technical skills in today’s digital age of AI are quite different from what were considered technical skills 20, 10, or even five years ago—and tomorrow’s technical skills could be even more different still.

“With the rise of AI, the definition and composition of technical skills are evolving. Some tasks traditionally seen as highly technical, like writing code or summarizing text, are increasingly automated,” Dr Christina adds. 

The impact of AI on technical skills is significant. Rather than necessarily replacing human intelligence, experts suggest in many cases the rapidly evolving technology is shifting how skilled professionals will work, in a similar vein to previous technological revolutions.

“The CEO of Anthropic noted that in the next three to six months, up to 90% of code could be written by AI. This doesn’t mean coding knowledge is obsolete, but it shifts the human role: developers can now focus more on complex, creative, or evaluative aspects of programming, while AI can handle the routine parts,” explains Dr Christina.

Thus, AI literacy is quickly emerging as an essential technical skill across various sectors and roles. “Workers need to understand what AI tools are doing, how to prompt them with precise instructions and how to critically evaluate their output. In this sense, people could move from being task executors to generative AI agent administrators or managers,” she adds.

This is therefore a crucial moment and opportunity to build and improve your skills in AI to future proof your career. 

“Just as basic computer literacy evolved from a specialized skill to an expected qualification, we may soon reach a point where the ability to work effectively with AI tools can be a prerequisite for many roles. Workers who can use generative AI to increase efficiency, while critically assessing the output, may be more competitive and valuable to employers,” Dr Christina advises. 

Examples of Technical Skills to Add to Your Resume

With the scope of technical skills expanding beyond typical technical skills like programming, coding, and software and web development, the most valuable technical skills today combine digital tool fluency with human judgement and management capacity, according to Dr Christina. 

She identifies three key technical skills that are particularly highly sought after and worth exploring to build your abilities and give your resume a boost.

1. AI Literacy

AI is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world, with AI technology expected to achieve an annual average growth rate of 33.2% between 2020 and 2027. Knowledge of and comfort with AI tools, specifically large language models (LLMs) and generative AI will therefore be relevant for a wide range of cross-sector, knowledge-based professions in the coming years. 

“Understanding how to use generative AI effectively—for example, how to structure prompts, validate outputs, and chain tasks—can greatly increase productivity in several different areas, including software programming, customer service,  writing, consulting, and legal tasks,” says Dr Christina. 

2. Programming and Technical Foundations

Relevant for software engineering, data analysis, scientific research, and even creative industries that require the use of AI design tools, a strong base in programming will likely continue to be highly valued in the future job market. 

“Even if AI can write 90% of the code as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts, humans still need to interpret, debug, and adapt that code. Coding is no longer just about building—it’s about supervising and ensuring accuracy in automated processes,” Dr Christina adds.

3. Critical Thinking and Adaptive Management

Useful for the majority of roles, particularly those in middle management, product design, education, and leadership within AI integrated organisations, adaptive management and critical thinking will continue to be effective skills in future, not least for those who need to oversee automated work streams that include not just people but AI agents, says Dr Christina. 

“Even agentic AI, which can perform sequences of tasks autonomously, needs steering. The ability to make complex decisions in social systems can become defining competencies for future professionals,” she explains.

How to Develop Technical Skills

There’s never been a better time to develop your technical skill set, nor has there been an easier time to learn them.

“Since many AI-related roles didn’t exist even five years ago, employers can’t expect candidates to have years of prior experience. This creates a window of opportunity for skills-based hiring and people to position themselves at the frontier, simply by learning proactively,” Dr Christina points out.

She shares several practical ways to do so.

1. Hands-On Experimentation With AI Tools

“To build technical skills in AI, simply experiment with the tools. Generative AI is widely accessible today, and those who explore LLM tools like Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, or the different models they offer for different purposes can gain a competitive edge.” 

2. Online Courses and Micro-Credentials

“Learning platforms such as Coursera or Microsoft Learn offer flexible, often low-cost courses that help students and professionals stay up to date. These include micro-credentials in data analytics, cloud computing, or prompt engineering.

“Many universities now offer asynchronous online courses that can fit around work schedules. This helps users build foundational technical knowledge in line with their own schedule.” 

3. Project-Based Learning

“Identify repetitive or time-consuming tasks in your workflow, like writing meeting summaries, drafting routine emails, or filling out routine forms. Then, experiment with ways to automate them using AI tools. This approach not only builds technical confidence but directly improves productivity. 

“Websites like There's An AI For That can help you discover tools tailored to specific work tasks. Simply insert the task you want help with and the website provides suggestions for AI tools suitable for your task.” 

4. Lifelong Learning and Upskilling

“Because technology is evolving so quickly, one of the most important skills is the willingness to learn. But this also comes with a warning: overreliance on AI tools can hinder deep learning and skill acquisition. 

“Generative AI may weaken learning effects if students use it uncritically, especially for tasks like writing or summarising. This means AI should be used as a support tool,  not a substitute for cognitive effort.” 

If you’re considering investing in your technical skills in a concentrated way, exploring further education could be the right step to undertake dedicated learning and earn a certification that demonstrates your expertise. Business school can also help you develop a network of alumni and peers that can provide extensive value over the course of your career.

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