The tech age is upon us and has been for some while now.
It’s changing the workforce: evolving roles, making some obsolete, and creating completely new ones. It’s unclear how the landscape will change in the next five or ten years, but as a young student or recent graduate, you can make moves to future-proof yourself.
With the holidays approaching, taking time to think about the future-proof skills you could develop is time well spent. Even better, we’ve done the research for you and lined up the top 12 future-proof skills you should be learning in 2023, plus the roles you can expect them to take you into, the average salary (everyone likes money), and which internship career fields will boost your employability straight off the bat.
Given the skyrocketing popularity of social media marketing and eCommerce websites, learning chatbot development skills can come in handy.
A chatbot is a software application that mimics human speech using artificial intelligence. This software is replacing service desks and has developed new opportunities for companies to leverage AI.
You can learn chatbot development without having to learn how to write code. There are plenty of how-to resources and video tutorials that will teach you chatbot development skills.
Coupled with the right set of skills, you can also become a professional chatbot developer and earn a handsome income in top tech companies.
Potential Job Roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Computer Science & IT Internships
Average US Salary for Chatbot Developers: $121,875 Yearly
Agile Project Management (APM) is a management concept that emphasizes customer and individual corporation, flexibility in response to change, and rapid delivery.
As an agile project manager, you’ll be breaking complex work into smaller and more manageable tasks. Thus significantly reducing the time in planning and support for team alignment and cohesion.
While learning APM, you’ll also develop a mix of soft and hard skills, including project management, verbal leadership, critical thinking, organization, time management, and more. All of which only add more gravitas to your resume.
Potential Job Roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Business Internships
Average US Salary for Agile Project Managers: $ 99,959 Yearly
With platforms like TikTok, YoutTube, and IGTV, the video and animation market is booming like never before. No wonder video production and animations are wildly in-demand skills for digital marketing companies. Startups, in particular, pay generous salaries to experienced video producers and animators.
Therefore, if you master video editing, videography, animation, or video production skills, these platforms can enable you to generate a handsome source of income. You can also intern as a video editor and test out the field as a potential career option.
Potential Job Roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Media, Comms, & Publishing Internships
Average US Salary for Videographers: $ 75,730 Yearly
Read More: Startup Internships: Why More Students Are Choosing Them
Written codes run our technology-infused world, and since computers dominate everything, learning how to code will help you automate time-consuming tasks, build your website, and do so much more.
Even if you don’t become a professional coder, a fundamental understanding of codes will go a long way. Learn the skill in-depth, and you are opening yourself to many high-end coding-based job opportunities (with impressive pay).
Potential Job Roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Computer Science & IT Internships
Average US Salary for Computer Programmers: $ 73,473 Yearly
Cybersecurity safeguards computer networks and systems from cyber-attacks aiming to modify, access, or destroy confidential data. As the world is shifting towards remote work, the need for a cyber security professional is blooming within every industry (33% from 2020 to 2030).
Thus learning about security threats from malware attacks, phishing, and IoT attacks and how to defend them is a sure-shot way to have a future-proof career.
However, cybersecurity jobs are highly technical. Therefore, to land a high-paying job, you need to broaden your skill with more on-hand training, for example, through internships.
Potential Job Roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Computer Science & IT Internships
Average US Salary for Cybersecurity Analysts: $119,998 Yearly
As companies are shifting their physical infrastructure to cloud services like Google cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure, the need for cloud computing professionals is soaring.
Gaining a deep understanding of the cloud is valuable for any employee, but on a smaller level, it will also be great for effectively distributing and managing various projects. Plus, adding this skill along with good project management abilities will promise you a great career in managing and organizing companies’ processes.
Potential Job Roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Computer Science & IT Internships
Average US Salary for Cloud Computing: $118,669 a year
Digitally transforming companies account for over 70% of businesses globally, and AI powers a majority of them. As per CAGR, the AI field will compound an annual growth rate of 42.2% from 2020 to 2027.
To cope with the demands, companies need candidates with artificial intelligence skills.
However, developing this technical skill takes time. The first step is to understand how AI is developed. The key is to learn how to manipulate and interact with AI. So learn the skills this holiday, and take on a remote internship in the field to put your learnings into practice and understand the tech better.
Potential job roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Computer Science & IT Internships
Average US Salary for Roles in Artifical Intelligence: $115,000 Yearly
Learn More: How to Get a Remote Job with No Experience [10 Ways]
Digital marketing is the process of promoting and marketing services and products through different digital channels like search engines, PPC advertising, and social media platforms.
Digital marketing is an umbrella skill under which you can master many skills, including data analysis, content marketing, Search Engine Optimization, and much more.
The best part — you will develop a unique combination of technical and creative knowledge when learning digital marketing. From writing eye-catching headlines to analyzing analytics of the campaign, you’ll be able to do it all. Add an internship experience for the same, and you are all set for a bright digital marketer’s career.
Potential job roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Marketing Internships
Average US Salary for Digital Marketers: $57,337 Yearly
In a sub-niche of digital marketing, copywriting & SEO are other high-end-demand skills. Writing clear, crisp, creative, & compelling copies, nerve fails to promote a brand and attract the target audience’s attention. Therefore equipped with master copywriting skills, you can charge way more than a content writer.
Add SEO, one of the most powerful online marketing skills, and you’ll skyrocket your employability even more.
Potential Job Roles
Internship Career Field to Choose: Marketing Internships
Average US Salary for Content Writers: $50,155 Yearly
Low-and No-code is a development approach that enables people with little-to-no coding knowledge to build apps. Typically by using drag-and-drop options instead of writing complex codes.
The low-code software development is becoming an in-demand SaaS (Software as a Service) business trend. As a result, the market is expected to value over 191 million U.S. dollars by 2030.
Thus, with expertise in this skill, you can become a valuable asset to the IT Skill Gap.
Potential Job Roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Computer Science & IT Internships
Average US Salary for Developers: $114,489 Yearly
Businesses value quality graphic design skills, as they are vital for creating logos, banners, and other visual content for social media and website content. Plus, with plenty of online courses and free resources online, learning graphic designing skills isn’t tough.
You can further polish your skills by interning for a company as a graphic designer. Even if you don’t become a professional, the basic knowledge of graphic design can help you assist your company in creating better graphics.
Potential Job Roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Creative, Design, & Fashion Internships
Average US Salary for Graphic Designers: $52,834 Yearly
Read More: 5 Ways to Gain Hands-on Experience Early in Your Career
Irrespective of your job role, remote communication & collaboration skill is the necessity for a thriving career. Your ability to clearly communicate in a remote setup and collaborate with the team to produce results will pave the way for high-paying offers.
So this holiday season, learn about the top tools and techniques for remote collaboration & communication. Understand the challenge of remote teamwork & workflow, especially when working in different time zones.
Even better, join a remote internship and work for an international company to gain first-hand experience in remote work, communication, and collaboration.
Potential Job Roles:
Internship Career Field to Choose: Recruitment & HR Internships
Average US Salary for Communications Specialists: $55,182 Yearly
Going forward in 2023 and beyond, having only two or three specific skills would not be sufficient for a thriving career. A balanced knowledge of diverse skills like coding, digital marketing, artificial intelligence, and more is the need of the hour (something your college wouldn’t prepare you for).
That’s why more and more companies are looking to young grads to shape and mold – especially start-ups who are looking for culture fit and diverse talent – over qualifications and experience.
So take the first step, learn a few of the above future-proof skills, and find out which is the best fit for you.
Next, apply for a guaranteed Virtual Internship, and test out the skill as a career path. Plus, if you perform well, you might even get an offer at the end (1 in 3 VI interns do).
We are sure that with thousands of innovative host companies in countries all over the world and 18 different career fields to choose from, you’ll definitely find a remote internship that is perfect for your career.
Read More: Why Choose a Virtual Internship Over a Traditional One [12 Reasons]
As the workplace evolves, universities need to equip students with future-proof skills that will give them an unbeatable advantage.
From mentorship to interning, we've broken down the 10 ways you can increase your chances of getting a remote job with no experience!
In 2023, higher education will face some significant challenges. Using insight from partners in the industry, here's how to overcome them.