According to LinkedIn, there are at least 50,000 professional skills in the world with some of these skills being highly sought after while some aren’t.
In this post, we have compiled the top 10 best skills to acquire in Nigeria.
Strengthening your skills or learning a highly sought after skill is one of the best investments you can make in your career because it gives you an edge in your 
industry and enables you grow in your career.
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Creative Thinking
Many roles are becoming automated as a result many people are starting to lose their jobs. It is quite interesting how automation has improved efficiency in the workplace and it is only expected the level of automation will continue to increase with each passing year. However, organizations still need creative employees who can conceive the solutions of tomorrow.
Often times, people associate creativity with artistic tasks such as writing a novel, painting a picture, or composing music. While these are all creative endeavors, not all creative thinkers are artists. Many jobs require creative thinking, including positions in the worlds of business and science.
Creativity simply means being able to come up with something new. Therefore, creative thinking is the ability to consider something – a conflict between employees, a data set, a group project – in a new way. Employers in all industries want employees who can do this.
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Persuasion
Persuasion is another important skill in today’s business world. Persuasion skill is basically the talent of changing the attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors of a person or group towards another person, group, event, object, or idea. It is usually done by conveying, in a message, some feelings, information, reasoning, or a combination.
In a nutshell, persuasion skills mean the ability to make intentional and successful efforts at influencing someone’s mental state through written or verbal communication. Whether it is a college presentation or a sales pitch to potential buyer, persuasion skills are essential for success in every stage of life. This makes persuasion one of the most important skills that you can develop.
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Cloud Computing
Cloud computing involves the availability of computer system resources, especially storage and computing power without the direct active management by users. The term is generally used to describe data centers available to many users over the Internet. Large clouds, predominant today, often have functions distributed over multiple locations from central servers. If the connection to the user is relatively close, it may be designated an Edge server.
Clouds may be limited to a single organization (enterprise clouds,) be available to many organizations (public cloud,) or a combination of both (hybrid cloud.)
Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and economies of scale. Advocates of public and hybrid clouds note that cloud computing allow companies to avoid or minimize up-front IT infrastructure costs. Experts also claim that cloud computing allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with improved manageability and less maintenance, and that it enables IT teams to more rapidly adjust resources to meet fluctuating and unpredictable demand. Cloud providers typically use a “pay-as-you-go” model, which can lead to unexpected operating expenses if administrators are not familiarized with cloud-pricing models.
The availability of high-capacity networks, low-cost computers and storage devices as well as the widespread adoption of hardware virtualization, service-oriented architecture, and autonomic and utility computing has led to growth in cloud computing
With the world moving toward the cloud, companies are desperately searching for engineers who have the skills to accommodate this demand.
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Data Science/Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence or AI is an interesting field in computer science while Data science is another important skill that is linked to AI.
Data Science has been an in-demand skill for the past several years as a result of the strong need for those who can make sense of a magnitude of data. In addition, these data is extremely important in the field of AI. Consequently, AI and Data Science is becoming increasingly important with many startups deploying this technology to create interesting products.
Also, major companies are looking to AI to ensure they remain relevant in their industry. Consequently, individual with knowledge of AI and Data Science are becoming highly sought after To excel in the field of AI and Data Science, you need to avail the best online data science courses that will help you remain updated in this industry.
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Analytical Reasoning
Analytical reasoning which is the ability to look at information, whether qualitative or quantitative in nature, and discern patterns within the information is a very important skill in this day and age.
Basically, analytical reasoning involves deductive reasoning with no specialized knowledge, such as: comprehending the basic structure of a set of relationships; recognizing logically equivalent statements; and inferring what could be true or must be true from given facts and rules.
As companies collect more data than ever before, they are looking to professionals who can make smart decisions based off of it.
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People Management
Managing people is another essential skill regardless of what field you operate. The world has changed from a “command-and-control” model and leaders in any organization need to be able to coach and empower. Interestingly, this is a difficult skillset which only few professionals possess.
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UX Design
User experience design also known as UX Design or UXD is the process of enhancing user satisfaction with a product by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction with the product.
UXD encompasses traditional human–computer interaction (HCI) design, and extends it by addressing all aspects of a product or service as perceived by users.
The skill is very important because it is the key to making a digital world work for humans.
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Mobile Application Development
In recent years, companies have tilted towards design mobile first platforms, so they are looking to professionals with knowledge of Mobile Application Development in order to achieve their goals.
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Video Production
The demand for video production is increasing by the day as video streaming represents 70 percent of all consumer internet traffic.
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Digital Marketing
With the rise of digital, it’s no surprise that digital marketing has grown to become one of the most in-demand marketing skills.