I get asked a lot about skills that Learning, and Talent Development employees will need to have in the future. One of many will be better and deeper technical competencies and skills than we had in the past. There is no way L&TD practitioners will fulfill the needs of their organizations in the future by sheer willpower alone. They would have to be experts in AI, coding, robotics, other technologies, and using modern techniques as power multipliers that suit their employees ‘ needs. L&TD leaders need to be knowledgeable and informed in digital transformation to help grow technical skills in their organizations. There is a much-talked-about skills shortage in the IT sector. According to the US Office of Labor Statistics, by 2026 there will be nearly 1.3 million job opportunities for IT professionals. Unfortunately, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, there are only around 60,000 computer engineering students produced each year (NCES, 2019). This suggests the requirement for more technological competence among the L&D practitioners will be immensely important.
