From AI To Security: Here Are The Top Tech Skills Trends For 2025

Unsurprisingly, demands for AI and security training have skyrocketed and will continue to, according to technology and business training provider O’Reilly.

Technology learning platform and publisher O’Reilly released its report Monday on the technology skills users of its online learning sought most to acquire in 2024 and are likely to continue to remain in demand in 2025, and which skills were on the decline.

The data in the report is based on content usage on O’Reilly’s learning platform from Jan.1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2024.

Interest in skills around AI and security skyrocketed on O’Reilly’s platform in 2024, trends expected to continue this year as more organizations adopt AI solutions, and the threat landscape becomes increasingly active and complex.

“This year marks a pivotal transition in technology, with AI evolving from generative capabilities to a transformative force reshaping how developers approach their craft,” said Mike Loukides, vice president of emerging technology content at O'Reilly and the report’s author, in a statement. “As foundational skills gain prominence and organizations increasingly adopt comprehensive security practices, professionals must prioritize upskilling to effectively integrate these tools into their operations. The future is not about fearing AI's impact on jobs but in harnessing its potential to enhance productivity and drive innovation across industries,” he continued.

Here are some key takeaways from O’Reilly’s report:

AI

Unsurprisingly, AI skills were most coveted in 2024. Interest in AI skills grew 190 percent on O’Reilly’s platform, with machine learning at 9.2 percent growth, interest in natural language processing up by 39 percent, and AI principles learning grew 190 percent.

Interest in gen AI skills grew 289 percent and prompt engineering grew a whopping 456 percent.

On the decline was interest in GPT (generative pre-trained transformer) which dropped by 13 percent.

According to the report, interest in skills associated with AI went up and is predicted to rise in 2025. These include interest in deep learning, generative models, and GitHub Copilot. O’Reilly’s online platform also saw growth in the use of content about AI libraries including PyTorch, Keras, and Scikit-Learn.

Data Engineering

Interest in data engineering skills increased by 29 percent from 2023 to 2024. Interest in SQL skills increased by 3.2 percent, in Power BI by three percent, and interest in business intelligence skills increased by five percent.

Interest in PostgreSQL slightly outpaced MySQL by 3.6 percent. Interest in Data Lake architecture grew by 59 percent.

Software Development And Coding

O’Reilly online learning users’ interest in software architecture, enterprise architecture, and distributed systems all increased in 2024. In fact, software architecture was one of the most “desirable skills,” O’Reilly said in its report. The report attributed the interest in software architecture as a way for coders to move into more senior-level positions and to the rise in AI.

There was a decline in interest in some architecture-based skills including those involving microservices, domain-driven design, and serverless architecture.

Interest in the programming language Rust increased by 9.6 percent from 2023 to 2024. There were declines in interest in content on Python, C++, and Java skills, according to the report data.

IT Operations

Despite a 20 percent decline, O’Reilly said that content teaching Kubernetes skills was the second most widely used in the IT operations category (Linux content is the most accessed among IT operations content, although that topic saw a 1.6 percent decline in 2024).

There was also a decline in interest in DevOps and SRE skills.

IT Certifications

Interest in general IT certifications including CompTIA A+ and Network+, Cisco Certified Network Practitioner (CCNP), Cisco Certified Internet Engineer (CCIE) declined although interest in the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) remained high.

Content use for the major cloud providers and their certifications also decreased with one exception – usage of content to prepare for the Google Cloud certification increased by 2.2 percent.

Interest in content on security and governance certifications and skills saw the biggest gains in 2024. Interest in governance, risk, and compliance rose 44 percent, and application security content use grew by 17 percent.

Training for the CISSP and CompTIA Security + exams increased by 11 and 13 percent. respectively. CISSP is the most requested certification by employers, O’Reilly said.

Read the full report from O’Reilly here.