Tech skills — what roles actually need
Each skill below is drawn from our seed data and mapped to the roles that rely on it, with source-backed role-skill importance ratings. Skills are grouped by type. Importance describes how central a skill is to a role, not pay or hiring odds.
Technical
| Skill | What it is | Roles that need it |
|---|---|---|
| AI fundamentals | AI literacy skill for AI specialist and AI-enabled work. | 1 |
| API integration | API and platform integration skill for automation roles. | 2 |
| AWS architecture | AWS design and architecture skills. | 3 |
| Azure administration | Azure administration and operations. | 1 |
| Cloud fundamentals | Cloud literacy across AWS and Azure. | 6 |
| Data cleaning | Entry data analytics workflow skill. | 3 |
| Incident response | Cybersecurity incident triage response and escalation skill. | 5 |
| Linux administration | Linux server administration and command-line operations skill for systems cloud-operations and DevOps infrastructure roles. | 3 |
| Machine learning | Machine learning and model-oriented AI skill. | 2 |
| Network security | Network security engineering and security operations skill. | 4 |
| Networking fundamentals | Shared foundation for support networking cloud and security. | 14 |
| Prompt engineering | Generative AI prompting and workflow optimization skill. | 1 |
| Python automation | Automation skill for network and infrastructure workflows. | 3 |
| Security fundamentals | Security baseline for cyber and operations. | 7 |
| Security monitoring | SOC and security operations monitoring skill. | 5 |
| Software development | Programming and software construction skill for developer engineering and automation roles. | 7 |
| SQL | Common data analyst skill. | 3 |
| Systems analysis | Systems analysis design and evaluation skill for architecture engineering and business-analyst roles. | 10 |
| Troubleshooting | Baseline support and operations skill. | 10 |
| Windows administration | Systems and support administration. | 2 |
Work activity
| Skill | What it is | Roles that need it |
|---|---|---|
| Customer support | Important for help desk and IT support. | 8 |
| Problem solving | Complex problem solving and decision making competency shared across technical roles. | 12 |
| Project coordination | Project coordinator and CAPM-aligned skill. | 5 |
| Stakeholder communication | Cross-functional communication for PM and support roles. | 11 |
Sources
- O*NET occupational data: https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- Vendor and provider sources are cited on each individual skill page.
Citation Ledger
| ID | Supports | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CIT-01 | Skill list and role-skill importance | Source-backed ratings | See individual skill pages for O*NET and vendor source rows |