7 High Demand Digital Skills for Job Seekers in 2024

As an applicant, aspiring to land the top position and stay relevant in your preferred role, one of the first steps to take to boost your chances is to identify the high demand digital skills shaping the labor market, learn these skills and get ahead of your competition.

Although a steady rise in technology has increased the demand for certain digital skills, apparently; all skills are not the same.

Some tech skills have a higher demand than others, while some others do have a higher supply of experts than the rest.

In order not to waste your time sifting through multiple digital skills, your best bet is to identify the fast selling digital skills with high demand, learn these skills and get yourself positioned for job opportunities as they come.

That said, there are hundreds of digital skills out there but in this guide, I’ll be listing out only the top high demand skills you can learn now and increase your chances of landing better tech jobs and making a decent income for yourself.

Web Design & Development

A steady rise in internet penetration around the world has pushed a lot of businesses previously offline, to build a digital presence so they can leverage online channels to make more sales.

This situation has doubled up an increase in demand for web developers thus making web design and development one of the key in demand digital skills in the job market today.

The good thing about web design and development is that it is not just a high demand digital skill in Nigeria; it is one of the top demand skills across the world; meaning that with this skill, you can position yourself to work from and at anywhere both locally and internationally.

Another thing you must keep in mind is that web development is not always all about coding. You can learn web development without writing a single line of code if that’s what you prefer, just the same way you can learn to write the code for your website, from the scratch.

Also, depending on the kind of web design training you’re going for, you can gain substantial skills within 6-12 weeks of intensive learning or even less, if you’re a fast learner.

You can register for our professional web design training here.

As someone with a web design skill, you stand at an advantage to get a role or an increased pay in some specific jobs, compared to others without the skills.

Also, there are a lot of opportunities for you to make money and earn with your skills either directly or indirectly.

For example, you can position yourself as a freelance web developer building website for businesses. You can also start out as a web consultant or a website technician in an established firm, besides setting up your own digital firm.

Content Development & Copywriting

Copy writing and content development is another high demand digital skill in Nigeria and other parts of the world. This is made so by the increasing demand for online content by businesses on different web platforms.

As a content writer, you can develop content for businesses of all kinds or choose a specific niche where you’ll develop your expertise.

You can also get employed as an in house content writer, content analyst or strategist. And of course, you can also start your own content marketing firm.

Although content development is one of the digital skills with a high number of supply, there’s still a steady demand for professional content creators, both for online and offline businesses due to the need for increasing content creation and management online.

Also, regardless of the high supply of content writers, in some niches, finding high quality content writers can be very difficult in almost all the niches.

So, there’s still a chance to carve a niche for yourself as a high value content creator.

One notable thing about content development is that it transcends different niches and industries so you can always choose a specific niche you want to focus on.

With this in place, you can abandon niches with a higher supply of creators to focus on those with lower supplies.

Also, as a content creator, you can choose to work for a business either on their social media, website & blogs or work offline, create the content and send to them.

Alternatively, you can combine all three, thus expanding your scope of offer and value as an employee or entrepreneur.

Get started and certified in Content Development by joining our content marketing training here.

Social Media Management

The need for social media presence has made Social Media Management a top high demand digital skill with extensive demand by businesses and individuals around the world.

Unlike what it was years ago, today; more and more businesses are creating social media platforms to drive business expansion and engage with their customers.

Considering that not all businesses have what it takes to manage their social media accounts or possess the expertise that can lead them to achieve their expected outcomes on social media, some businesses will rely on social media managers.

As a social media manager, you possess the skills and experience that can help a client achieve their social media marketing goals.

And you can employ these skills to service by learning the required fundamentals and positioning yourself accordingly in order to attract the right kind of clients.

You can start your journey and get certified as a Social Media Manager and marketing expert here.

One good thing with social media management is that beyond working with a firm, you can work as an independent contractor and you can manage as much as 3-5 social media platforms at a go thus opening you up for opportunities to earn more.

Video Editing & Development

With the evolution of video content, short skits, vlogging and video focused social platforms like Tiktok, YouTube and Instagram; Video Editing has eventually become a popular high demand digital skill.

With a large number of video editing tools available online, it might seem like there’s no need to learn video editing as a skill but learning video editing is even more important today unlike years back.

Creating high quality video content is very tasking, time consuming and demanding. With the need for large turnout of video content, content creators are undergoing production pressure that’s pushing a surge in demand for video editors.

Apart from assisting content editors, the growing influence of social media has increased the need for a social media focused kind of video content.

This is where you can come in as a video production and editing expert, positioning yourself to create solutions for businesses.

Learn, get certified and start your video editing journey by joining our video editing training here.

Software & Mobile App Development

With more businesses opting to use mobile application with or without websites, mobile app development is fast becoming a very high demand digital skill in Nigeria, including many parts of Africa and the developing world.

Regardless of the increasing number of mobile app developers around the world, Nigeria in particular and Africa generally is still lagging behind in the number of software developers compared to other parts of the world like Asia, America and Europe.

You can take advantage of this by positioning yourself to learn this skill, become an expert, start building applications for companies and earning both locally and internationally.

Although learning how to build mobile apps can seem quite daunting for beginners, it is not as tasking as it seems.

Also, eventually when you become well positioned as an expert, the earnings from this skill will definitely compensate for the time spent in learning and grooming yourself.

Data Analyst & Analytics

Data Analyst & analytics together make up one of other top high demand digital skills around the world today.

Data analysts help businesses in understanding and using data to make informed decisions which can lead to improved business profitability, better customer experience and generally, improved business outcomes.

As a data analyst, you’ll get to use your skills to identify growth patterns, determine the effectiveness or failure of a business approach and generally evolve informed decision for business owners and decision makers.

Compared to other high demand tech skills, Data Analyst is one of the digital skills with an average requirement for entry level candidates.

What this means is that you don’t necessarily have to be a top tier techie before you get to learn this skill.

Also, it is one of the skills with a yet-to-be-enough supply of high end experts.

Again, recently; as businesses continue to drive growth frontiers, there’s a surge in demand for data analysts by big tech companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft etc.

With such demand comes a decent pay check. And with the salary averaging 54,000 USD per annum for entry level, you get the chance to carve a niche for yourself as a professional data analyst while growing through the ranks.

Graphics Design

This is one of the most important high demand digital skills that have been in a great demand for businesses of all kinds, both online and offline.

In most cases, even though a business may not need a website, social media account or mobile application, to reach their customers or showcase their products it will need a banner or flyer.

The need for Graphics Design skills has been on a steady rise before and during the rise in other tech skills.

And in spite of other basic design tools like Canva and others, businesses are still in need of experienced graphics designers to achieve their goals. This is where you come in as a graphics design expert.

With the right skills set, you can position yourself either as a freelance graphics designer working for both online and offline businesses. You can also work with an establishment as an in house designer or you start your own graphics design business.

Regardless of the steps you may take to position yourself as a graphics designer, there’s enough market demand to keep you busy as long as you know your onions and how to go about things.

Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is not just a high demand digital skill; it is a skill that encapsulates a number of other in demand digital skills.

For example, it encompasses search engine marketing, email marketing, content marketing, digital advertising, social media marketing etc.

While it is important to have a good understanding of the important digital marketing skills, if you want to build a solid level of relevance with digital skills; choose one or two of these skills, learn deeply about them and establish your expertise there.

Naturally, two of the top leading digital marketing skills in the Nigerian market are search engine optimization and social media advertising. But unfortunately, there’s not enough local experts in this niche, especially search engine marketing.

Notwithstanding, more local businesses are utilizing the web to drive growth and make sales. Some of these businesses are using search engine marketing as their primary means to gain improved visibility while others are using digital advertising.

This development has created a demand for more local experts. And you can leverage this to learn about these skills, gain mastery and position yourself as an expert, providing these services to businesses within the Nigerian market.

Final Words

In conclusion, these skills are not just in demand skills in your locality, they are skills you can learn and use to work with businesses of all kinds, around the world.

Also, apart from the leading skills listed here, there is a number of other in demand-digital skills like data science, cyber security, block chain technology, cloud computing etc. which you can also consider.

While the latter skills may not be high demand digital skills in Nigeria at the moment, they are in serious demand elsewhere. And you can position yourself to become a leading expert when it becomes a high demand skill here.

Alternatively, if you have interest in these other skills, you can still learn, get certified and position yourself for the international market, irrespective of whether you’re going to work locally, remotely or travel abroad. Check out our courses here.

Finally, regardless of how many international experts there are, the important thing is that there’s still a need for experts that can bring local solutions to unique local problems. This is where you come in.

To learn more about the top in demand digital skills you can get started with, reach out to us here.

Now, it’s your turn! What are the preferred top demand skills you’d like to learn? Drop your comments below.