Table of Contents
Introduction
You are reading this article, that means you are someone who is interested in learning new technical skills in the year 2021. Believe me, this is the best time to do so, as we are all at home due to the coronavirus pandemics hopefully we have a lot of free time.
Let’s start with what you need. Well, basically you need to have two things.
A laptop or PC and a stable enough internet connection. That’s all you need to start.
Let’s dive into the skills now.
1. Coding/Learning Programming Languages:
Coding is a vast thing and if you are someone who’s looking for an IT job in the future, or looking to earn really good cash through freelancing, coding is a must-have skill in my opinion. So you might be thinking about where to start and how to proceed with coding.
Youtube is the best place to learn to code because there are tons of tutorials in both Hindi and English. You just need to choose one language you wish to learn, and then build on it.
Nowadays I would recommend languages like Python, and Kotlin but you must remember that C is the mother of all languages, so it’s up to you on which language to learn. Python, in my opinion will be easy to learn and a lot of interesting projects can be done with it.
Once you get hold on the basics of any one particular language, you can develop your skills based on competitive coding, which will help you land a job in an IT firm in the near future. In coding it’s all about your practice and the logic used. The language is just the medium of implementation.
2. Graphic Designing:
In this digital era, nowadays people are mostly on the internet, visiting websites, watching videos, etc.
So these kinds of products and services need to be visually appealing. This where graphic designing comes into play. As a graphic designer you can design interesting artworks and designs for various clients across the globe.
This skill can really help you in becoming financially independent as a freelancer. You can take up basic courses, learn from YouTube, and get an idea about graphic design.
There are multiple software and tools used in this profession, but you can even get started with just your laptop and mouse. You can also use online sites like canva to make some interesting designs.
Once you get hold of this skill you can do some freelance work on various websites, and thus become successful, eventually. The prospect of earning is also really good in graphic designing.
3. Website Development:
Website development is again a very demanding skill at this point in time. As I said before, people now spend most of their time on the internet, and thus the demand for websites is always there.
Now for learning website development, you have to take up any online course. I learned from Internshala, but you can also use other platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and even the best, and freeway, that is Youtube. For website development, you need to do a bit of research on whether you choose to become a back-end developer or a front-end one, and take up the skills accordingly.
You need to go through languages like JavaScript, HTML and CSS, so it will definitely need some time and effort. Once you gain confidence in website development, you can again take up tasks as a freelancer, to build up more experienced and earn at the same time. Website Development can also help you in getting a good IT job.
4. Video Editing:
So, Video editing is again a demanding skill at this time, as video content is on the rise. Video editing can be done through various paid and free software, and in my opinion, the best free one is DaVinci Resolve, which kind of an industry standard when it comes to color grading. Video Editing can be learned by anyone in just a matter of weeks and just needs further practice.
Depending upon the software you choose, you can easily learn it from Youtube, and start working on projects and start experimenting.
Once you become confident of your work, you can start freelancing, and internships, wherein you can easily, earn 10,000 to 20,000 INR per month.
But the pay scale in video editors rises only after you have a great portfolio and a lot of experience. But none the less this skill is on the rise, and you can utilize your free time to learn some video editing and start earning from home.
5. Animation:
Animation is another side of video editing. Animation is a really advanced form of video editing, and is also difficult and tedious to execute. But this skill is really demanding at this time. To become a proper animator we need to put effort into learning and practice it really well.
Youtube can help you learn the software like Adobe Animator and Adobe Character Animator, but the execution is the key here. Once you devote the required time, you can again grab some freelance work, and the pay scale for animators in really good at this point in time.
6. App Development:
Android or iOS app development is something that can again be beneficial for you if you have the plans of entering the tech industry, and also these skills can be used for freelance work, or you can even launch your own app and earn from services like Google AdMob. For learning the basics of app development you can use Youtube. Depending upon which OS you want to build apps for you can use software like Android Studio and Xcode, but for running Xcode you do need to have a Mac, so keep it in mind. For the basic app development you can use drag and drop development but for advanced stuff you need to have your base in coding in languages like Java or Kotlin for Android, and Swift 7 for IOS. Once you get hold of the basics you should aim at experimenting and creating innovative apps to gain experience and then proceed further.
7. Ethical Hacking:
Ethical Hacking is a vast subject and I am not telling you to master it this quarantine, but you can start off with ethical hacking and find out whether it interests you or not. You can start off with the basics from Youtube, like installing Kali Linux and testing out the various apps, and then take up a professional course if needed in the future. Cyber Security and ethical hacking have a lot of scope in the near future, so you can consider investing some time in learning ethical hacking.
These were the 7 technical skills I think you should try out in this free quarantine time to explore out more opportunities. If you are a B.Tech student or someone looking to enter the IT industry, or someone looking for skills that can land you some freelance internships, these skills can help you in starting off. In my honest opinion, most of the information is available on the internet regarding these subjects in the form of websites and YouTube videos, so if you are determined you can master the skill you want. Good Luck!