Top 10 High Demand Tech Skills for Nigerians
High demand tech skills – You will agree with me that the future is digital. With technology infiltrating every single sector and creating jobs where there was none.
The digital nature of our world today has made it necessary to have certain skills. If you want to serve the local and global market as a Nigerian, you need the right tech skills. These skills will position you as someone who is ready to take advantage of opportunities when they show up, because they will.
Even if you are just beginning your career journey into tech, knowing the most demanded tech skills are important so that you won’t waste your time learning a skill nobody wants to hire for.
In this article, we will look at the Top 10 tech skills that employers are currently looking for.
Before we dive right into listing and explaining the skills, let’s set an understanding of what tech skills are.
What Are Tech Skills?
Tech skills, short for Technical skills, are certain specialized abilities an individual needs to perform certain technology related tasks.
In many career fields, there are different tech skills needed. While some of them may be simple, others may be very complicated and other categories are somewhere in between.
Nowadays, in many companies, you need to have some basic knowledge of computer programs and some simple tech skills before you even qualify to be recruited into the company.
Based on local and international trends, here are The top 10 High demand Tech Skills for Nigerians in no specific order;
List of Tech Skills
- Digital Marketing
- Cybersecurity
- Software Development
- Cloud computing
- Data Science and Analytics
- Blockchain Technology
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
- DevOps
- Product Management
- UI/UX Design
Digital Marketing
- Digital Marketing
A high demand tech skills like Digital marketing is the type of marketing that involves using digital methods to market and sell products or services.
With the way the internet has penetrated the nooks and crannies of the country, many people have shifted their focus from advertising on newspapers and billboards to advertising on websites, social media, apps, etc.
Company managers have realized that their prospects and customers spend most of their time on the internet and so they opt to reach them there through digital marketing.
That is why people with this skill are highly sought after. Businesses exist to make sales and one of the things that help them make massive sales is being in front of the right people.
So they will pay you to create the right content, advertise their brand in front of these people and build a strong online presence for them.
To succeed as a digital marketer, you need skills like Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, etc.
Cybersecurity
- Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity simply means providing security for computer systems from attacks.
It involves the process of safeguarding systems, and networks, from digital threats.
Typically, the goals of these attacks are to disrupt regular operations, steal, alter, or delete sensitive data. They may also attempt to steal money from users.
This causes a major problem for both the company and their clients and could lead to loss of trust for a particular brand.
Imagine if your bank’s network gets hacked, a lot of money can be stolen from the bank and their customers. Even hacking into a hospital’s database can cause serious problems too, both for patients and the organization itself.
Recently in Nigeria there have been several instances of cyber threats like hacking, data breaches, and online fraud.
These attacks have harmed individuals, businesses, and even posed a major concern to national security.
That is why every organization now pays attention to ensuring that their systems are very secure and immune to cybercrimes. No wonder why cybersecurity as a skill is highly sought for.
Software Development
- Software Development
Ever thought of how the applications on your phone, tablet or laptop were made? They were all created through the process called Software development.
Software Development is the process of planning, constructing, testing, and managing different software applications.
It is not a one way thing, but entails putting to use many ideas and techniques from engineering, mathematical analysis, and computer sciences.
As complicated as it may sound, the main goal of software development is to produce software that is dependable, user-friendly, and effective.
In Nigeria, software development is a high demand skill because a lot of people and businesses need apps to help them do things better and faster.
As more people use these digital tools, experts are needed to create them, so developers are very important to handle this need.
Cloud Computing
Imagine that you have a lot of music, videos and photos on your device but instead of keeping them in your phone or a hard drive, you store them in cloud-based storage.
This saves you space and money and you can use any of these things at any time you need to as long as you have internet access.
This is cloud computing in simple terms.
Cloud computing entails using hosted services, like data storage, servers, databases, networking, and software over the internet. It makes it easy to save files remotely, such that it can be accessed by team members from anywhere in the world and at any time they need to.
People and businesses prefer to use cloud computing because it saves costs, increases productivity, efficiency, and security. This is why there is a high demand for people with this skill.
Data Science and Analytics
Data Science is simply the scientific study of large volumes of data to find invisible patterns and deduce useful information.
Many organizations use the information they get from these data to make decisions concerning their business.
Data science uses complicated algorithms to spot patterns and build models based on those patterns so they can predict future occurrences.
Companies need data scientists to use existing data and predict what could happen in the future. They need data analysts to research and study on past data to make informed decisions for the present.
If you have these two skills you can be an irreplaceable member of the team and highly sought for.
Blockchain Technology
- Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology is a way of transparently recording online transactions. More like a digital note that keeps a record of everything.
It is visible to everyone but can not be erased or changed by anyone.
Each transaction is recorded on a “block” and linked to past and future transactions, thereby forming a chain.
Blockchains are so secure and trustworthy because once an information has been added, it cannot be edited.
Because of how reliable and trustworthy blockchain technology is, it is used in many fields but the most prominent ones are finance, supply chain and digital art.
If you have this skill, you can be a huge asset to finance, healthcare and supply chain related industries.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence (A. I) is the process of using technology to create computers that can behave like humans. They may see, understand, and reply to people like a human would. They can even analyze data too.
Machine Learning (ML) on the other hand is a subset of A.I. It is what makes the machine become better over time and with frequent use.
These skills are in high demand in Nigeria because with them, machines can learn from data they receive and make smart decisions based on such data.
Because machines are used in many different fields like healthcare, finance, and tech, skills like AI and ML are highly needed in those fields too.
DevOps
- DevOps
DevOps means Development Operations. It’s a combination of software development with Software Operations. Software developers are the people that build software while software operators are the people that make sure they run well.
Because of how fast it has made software delivery to be, DevOps is in high demand. Not just that, it also improves teamwork between developers and IT operations.
Product Management
- Product Management
In product management, the product manager guides a product from when the idea is conceived to when it is launched and even beyond that, while it is being used.
He researches to understand what the customer needs. Then decides what features the product will have and works with others like engineers, designers and marketers to create and deliver the product.
Product managers often set the vision for the product based on what the customer had requested for. At the end, they ensure that what is created meets with their set goals and is useful to the end users.
UI/UX Design
- UI/UX Design
The focus of UI/UX design is to create websites or applications that are beautiful and useful, and that users really enjoy interacting with.
UI means User Interface. It’s concerned with how the product looks and feels, including the layouts, colours of choice, buttons, and fonts.
UX means User Experience. It is concerned with the general experience people have when using the product. It makes sure that using it is smooth, reasonable, and meets the needs of users.
UI and UX design both work together to make sure that products are excellent in every sense.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the tech industry is growing fast in Nigeria. There’s a whole lot of opportunities for people but not just for any kind of people, only those with the right skills.
Whether you are just beginning your journey into tech or you want to advance in your field, you will do yourself a huge favour by paying attention to high-demand skills like digital marketing, cloud computing, data science and all the other ones listed in this article.
Once you can learn and master these skills, you won’t be limited to national job offers only as these skills are also highly demanded all over the world.
