2022

Workplace
Learning Trends
Report

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 1

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

3 Reframing soft skills

5 Executive summary

6 Chapter 1: Power skills

Communication & teamwork
Leadership & management
Productivity & collaboration
Personal development & wellness

13 Chapter 2: Tactical skills

Business intelligence
Design & UX
Finance & accounting
HR & talent development
Marketing
Project management
Sales & customer experience

23 Chapter 3: Technical skills

Cloud computing
Cybersecurity
Data science
IT Operations
Software development

31 Connect with Udemy Business Learning Expert

32 About us

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 2

INTRODUCTION

Reframing
soft skills
It’s no secret that the demands of the workplace are changing.
Whether it’s adapting to a remote or hybrid setting, building
more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations, or finding Power skills aren’t
just nice to have.
new ways to enhance productivity, working in a state of
They’re essential
constant flux is now accepted and expected.
for changing
the workplace.
All this change doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It has a very real
impact on employees and their ability to excel. Keeping up with
constant change, both in the industry and the workplace, is a
serious challenge. This is why nearly nine in ten executives and
managers say their organizations either face skill gaps already
or expect them to develop within the next five years.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 3

INTRODUCTION

“”
Power skills have always been an important part of workplace
learning, and their importance has only grown more urgent
Skills related
as the global workforce navigates the changes of the last few to leadership,
years. Enabling employees to develop power skills related to teamwork,
communication, collaboration, and change leadership is key to communication,
building an agile business and a strong company culture. productivity,
and wellness
— Melissa Daimler are critical to
Chief Learning Officer, Udemy
every employee’s
performance.
The most in-demand skills aren’t just about staying ahead of the technical curve. Skills
related to leadership, teamwork, communication, productivity, and wellness are critical to
every employee’s performance. This is why it no longer makes sense to call them "soft skills,"
as if they represent a less important set of skills in the workplace. These skills aren’t just
nice to have. They’re essential for changing the workplace.

Why "power skills"? Learning and Development (L&D) and HR leaders agree these skills
are what give employees power at work. Power to collaborate, power to communicate
effectively, power to lead. When it comes to developing training programs for the world’s
leading companies, we at Udemy Business believe these skills should be top-of-mind when
building a robust training program. After all, these are core competencies that all employees
need — whether they’re in a financial, technical, administrative, sales, or marketing role.

So goodbye, soft skills. Welcome to the new era of power skills.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 4

 Developing power skills is a key priority for NTT DATA, a
global IT services provider. This is a shift for the company,
which once kept employee development focused on For this report, the Udemy
technical skills . Business team analyzed trends

Executive
based on what employees are

“”
learning across our thousands
of customers around the world.
Communication and presentation are also topics With access to billions of data

summary of interest for us — and we continue to recommend points, we believe we offer a

unique perspective on the most
these types of courses to continually improve our
in-demand job skills modern
professional skills. employees need to thrive in
today’s dynamic workforce —
— Alfred Helmerich
As buzz about a Great Resignation in employee ranks grows, Executive Training Manager NTT DATA Academy and how organizations can tie
at NTT DATA Deutschland learning to business outcomes.
leaders find themselves at a pivotal crossroads between employee
retention and business results. But this isn’t an either/or dilemma.
Business growth hinges on employee engagement, which
In this report, you’ll learn:
employers can reinforce by investing in their talent through career
development and learning opportunities.
The priorities of leaders for the year ahead must shift to ensuring top talent not only stays
with the company, but that their skills can evolve quickly enough to stay competitive.
Regardless of where your employees work — in an office, in a hospital, in a manufacturing
center, in their living rooms, or on a beach — empowering them with continuous learning
1 2
Why power skills development How to mitigate the Great Resignation
opportunities will pay dividends in 2022 and beyond. Investing in workforce development is an investment your company within your company by developing
facilitates employee productivity keeps employees engaged and satisfied in their work, can’t afford to skip employees’ career paths
boosts employee retention, and supports the innovation needed to grow revenue.

3 4
That business strategy can Which skills the global workforce were
only succeed through a most in demand in 2021, to help shape
robust technical strategy your training program in 2022

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 5

CHAPTER 1

Power
skills
Build skills that can’t be
replaced by machines.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 6

CHAPTER 1 / POWER SKILLS

Let’s get one thing “”

In a labor market that is more automated,

straight: there’s
digital, and dynamic, all citizens will benefit
from having a set of foundational skills.
McKinsey & Company

nothing soft about

Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work

power skills
They may not involve learning lines of code or crunching Research from the McKinsey Global Institute finds that no matter
numbers in spreadsheets. But power skills are the key to the sector, occupation, or geographical region, every employee
future-proofing your company. needs a foundational set of power skills that allow them to:

Udemy Business data shows us just how in-demand these skills are. We’ve
seen triple-digit growth in categories like office productivity, leadership
and management, and personal growth over the past year. It’s worth noting that
Add value beyond Operate in a digital Continually adapt to new
demand in topics like diversity and inclusion, strategic thinking, listening skills, and
what can be done by environment ways of working and new
time management skyrocketed in the past four years. While these topics earned automated systems technologies
some extra time in the spotlight during the pandemic, we believe their four-year and intelligent machines
growth indicates a much larger trend.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 7

CHAPTER 1 / POWER SKILLS

What this
means for your
organization
Within the lens of power skills, leadership development is a
clear priority for every organization. From the executive team
to middle management to individual contributors, leadership
development of some kind is an imperative for the workforce.
As businesses continue to navigate the challenges from the
pandemic, strong leadership skills like those featured in
this chapter are essential for leading change, spearheading
strategy, motivating teams, and fostering belonging.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 8

CHAPTER 1 / POWER SKILLS Top 5 surging communication & teamwork skills,
2021
As the global footprint
Assertiveness of many companies

Communication
grows, employees are
250% collaborating across time
zones. The face-to-face
experience of video
Facilitation

& teamwork
calls is key for building
these international
148% relationships. Make the
most of video meetings
Team building with these simple tips
from Udemy Confidence
The growth of remote work in 2020 introduced us to the ups 129% and Communication
and downs of video conferencing. And introduced the concept instructor, Alexa Fischer.

of Zoom fatigue — our brains get overwhelmed by staring at Business writing

DO
Be intentional about
ourselves on screen all day. Whether in-person, virtual, or hybrid 104% your energy. Your mood
— however your workforce is currently collaborating — the is contagious, even on
Critical thinking camera. Listen to great
fundamentals of communication and teamwork skills music, be well-fed, and
96% breathe deeply to put
remain paramount. yourself into the best
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021 mindset before you begin
your video call.
INSIGHTS
Top 5 surging communication & teamwork skills, DON’T
2017-2021 Focus on yourself
throughout the video
Interest in the topic of team building had notable growth (+129%) over the past year, as call. If you find your mind
Microsoft Teams 760%
teams looked to strengthen their relationships with each other. Four-year consumption wandering to inner chatter,
Assertiveness 602% pause and refocus your
of communication and teamwork shows a workforce adapting to global changes with
attention on the person
topics like Microsoft Teams (+760%) and listening skills (+530%) seeing significant Listening skills 530% speaking. Listening is a
consumption increases.  powerful way to make an
Business writing 415% incredible impression while
giving you a break from
Critical thinking 340%
thoughts that might be
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021
bringing you down.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 9

CHAPTER 1 / POWER SKILLS Top 5 surging leadership & management skills,
2021
Leaders, as role models of
Diversity and inclusion a business, are one of the

Leadership
most important puzzle pieces
205% to building a more inclusive
company. Alan Todd, founder of
CorpU, a Udemy company that
OKR

& management
offers cohort-based leadership
development programs, explains
184% how developing inclusivity skills
in leaders affects the business:
Strategic thinking
Diverse teams alone do not
Leadership and management skills are for everyone — not 119% guarantee employees feel
just employees whose job title includes the word "manager." belonging and inclusion at work.
For employees to feel engaged,
Businesses that extend leadership training to all Problem solving
empowered, accepted, and valued
within their companies, leaders
employees, regardless of managerial aspirations, are 108% must go beyond surface gestures
4.2x more likely to outperform those that don’t in terms of diversity and build systems
Management coaching of inclusivity into how they lead.
of revenue growth, operating margin, and return on equity. Leadership training equips
108% leaders to:

1
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021

Create a culture where

INSIGHTS employees feel they can bring
Top 5 surging leadership & management skills,
their whole and unique selves
2017-2021 to the workplace
In the last four years, Udemy Business topics related to diversity and inclusion gained
Strategic thinking 331% 2
significant consumption growth as companies recognized that inclusivity needs to start at Challenge the cultural
the top to see company-wide effects. In the year-over-year view of topic consumption, Diversity and inclusion 324% misperceptions that can
undermine diversity efforts
diversity and inclusion again see growth as employees voice their need to leaders to Mentoring 276%
work in an inclusive company. Design thinking 208%
3
Develop strategies to define
meaning at work and increase
Problem solving 205% a team’s sense of purpose in
their work
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 10

10
CHAPTER 1 / POWER SKILLS Top 5 surging productivity & collaboration skills,
2021

Computer skills
Managing a

Productivity
common time
169% trap: email
Time management The average employee

& collaboration
professional checks their email
86% 15 times a day and spends 28%
of the work day checking or
sending emails. But there’s a
Windows 10
better way to handle what can
With many employees continuing to work from home (that includes 77% seem like an overwhelming task

approximately 70% of US white-collar employees, as of May 2021) How to take back your time and
and the growth of global teams, productivity and collaboration has SharePoint make email more productive:

never been more important. To work efficiently and effectively, true 76% 1
‘Process’ email instead
collaboration with colleagues — wherever they are in the world of ‘checking’ it. If you’ve
PowerPoint
— requires presenting ideas clearly. Tools like PowerPoint and opened it, deal with it
(no marking as unread)
70%
Confluence are essential to help employees communicate and share
2
their ideas. Courses related to "computer skills" share shortcuts and Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021
Batch-process email a few
times a day (not 15+!);
tips for making the most efficient use of computer work. constant context switching
Top 5 surging productivity & collaboration skills,
decreases productivity
2017-2021

INSIGHTS
3
Computer skills 404% Do your most important work of
the day BEFORE checking email
Microsoft Word 272% (because once you’re in there,
As we see in the four-year view and the year-over-year growth of topic consumption, Time management 254%
you’re stuck in reactive mode)
time management is a popular skill that employees revisit when they feel their
PowerPoint 222% — Alexis Haselberger
productivity lag. Udemy Time Management
Confluence 201% and Productivity Instructor

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 11

11
CHAPTER 1 / POWER SKILLS Top 5 surging personal development
& wellness skills, 2021

English language (IELTS)

Offering personal

Personal
development
150% and wellness
Interior design
programs can

development
positively impact
115% employees, and
Music theory your bottom line:

& wellness 79%

Piano
Employees who participated
in wellness programs regained
an average of

Well-being doesn’t just happen during employees’ off hours. Their

personal and professional lives are interwoven. So much so, that
79%
10.3 HOURS
in productivity and saved
Fitness
employees now expect companies to focus on worker well-being, companies an average of

according to research by Deloitte. For L&D leaders, personal 52%

development and wellness means offering employees opportunities Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021 $353 ANNUALLY

to learn subjects beyond their day-to-day job functions. according to a study in the
Journal of Occupational and
Top 5 surging personal development Environmental Medicine.
INSIGHTS & wellness skills, 2017-2021

Guitar 712% Employers with wellness

programs saw an ROI of
As part of a robust wellness program for employees, ensure your online learning providers Fitness 559%
offer topics that enrich employees’ minds during their personal time. Helping employees
stay active (note the continued growth in fitness-related courses in the most recent year and
English conversation 520% $3.27 PER DOLLAR

the last four years) and investing in hobbies (like interior design and piano) outside of work, Piano 380% spent on the program, per
research from Harvard
ensures they return to their roles feeling refreshed and more productive. German language 362% University.

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 12

CHAPTER 2

Tactical
skills
Avoiding the Great Resignation
through career investment.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 13

C H A P T E R 2 / TA C T I C A L S K I L L S

Organizations
are emerging
from the
pandemic crisis
As they do, executive teams are greeted with a set of new
alarmist headlines — a Great Resignation among the 88 % Of executives say their company is experiencing
higher turnover than normal.
workforce. While we’d like to write this off as clickbait, the
numbers speak for themselves.
To combat brain drain, employers must double down on the career development of all
A June 2021 PwC survey found that “nearly nine in 10 (88%) executives say employees, not just those in fast-changing technical roles. For employees to stay with
their company is experiencing higher turnover than normal.” Buoyed by the or join your organization, you must convince them that they’ll have the opportunity to grow.
growing acceptance of distributed workforces and a paradigm shift on work/life
happiness, employees are making career changes they might not have imagined As job vacancies rise, leaders can’t afford to lose the team members powering a company’s
before the pandemic. financial decisions, marketing strategy, product design, and customer experience. Offering
always-on learning channels is a win-win. Your company keeps the needle steady on talent
retention, and employees develop a career path within your organization.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 14

C H A P T E R 2 / TA C T I C A L S K I L L S

What this
means for your
organization
Just as all employees need power skills development, every employee
should be encouraged to develop the tactical skills that will help
them excel in the day-to-day functions of their role. The following
topic categories aren’t specific to employees that have these terms
in their job title. Business intelligence skills are important for HR
teams, just as design and finance best practices may be essential for
marketing teams. Use the insights in this chapter to understand which
tactical business topics are growing. Take time to analyze which ones
make sense for your employees to add to their personal learning plans.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 15

C H A P T E R 2 / TA C T I C A L S K I L L S Top 5 surging business intelligence skills,
2021

Excel analytics
When prioritizing

Business intelligence 195%

Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification
(foundational Tableau skills)
tools for 2022, add
an appraisal of your
company’s current BI
Just as basic computer skills went from being highly specialized to required 148% solutions to the list.
for everyone, data literacy has become the current language of business. But
Tableau Desktop Certified Associate Certification
understanding data and its applications is an area where many companies (comprehensive Tableau expertise)
According to
are currently falling short. Only 21% of employees are confident in their 78% reporting from CIO
data skills. Investment in business intelligence (BI) software that allows any
Business analytics “ONLY
employee to become data-driven is worthless if it’s not accompanied by
deliberate training on how to leverage the information provided by these tools. 76%
20-30%
Statistics of the data that could be
used for analytics is currently
In the last year, we’ve seen consumption of courses related to Tableau and 73% being pulled into the average
enterprise data warehouse.”
data visualization software increase as organizations grow their employees’ To use BI tools to their full
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021
data literacy. Securing certifications in tools like Tableau validates employees’ potential, organizations
need to invest in proper
knowledge in the subject while offering career advancement opportunities. Top 5 surging business intelligence skills, implementation, which could
not only require onboarding a
2017-2021 new vendor, but also additional
INSIGHTS employee training.
Excel VBA 194%

Excel 188%
Take note of the difference between "business analytics" and "business analysis" in the data below. Courses related to
Business analysis 150%
business analysis, which saw 150% growth in hours consumed over the last four years, teach learners how to examine a
company’s business needs and determine solutions to improve business through suggestions like process improvements or Splunk 150%
organizational change. Courses on business analytics, which saw a 76% surge in consumption hours this year, are data-
Business analytics 138%
focused, helping employees learn how to derive actionable insights from raw data.
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 16

16
 “”
C H A P T E R 2 / TA C T I C A L S K I L L S Top 5 surging design & UX skills,
2021 Great UX design has
the power to elevate a
Graphic Design

Design & UX
product or service from
227% being merely functional
to being truly essential.
Product Design It transforms a product
The first impression that customers have of your app, product, or into something we
195%
website is long-lasting. If your brand’s design lacks a cohesive simply cannot live or
work without.
visual story or your product’s user experience (UX) isn’t intuitive, Adobe Premiere

the most skilled tech and marketing teams in the world can’t help 112% — Joe Natoli
Udemy UX & UI instructor
you retain users.
Web Design

Today’s design teams work across disciplines in user research, 104%

marketing, accessibility, and information architecture to create Mobile app design
experiences that keep customers coming back. 99%
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021

INSIGHTS
Top 5 surging design & UX skills,
2017-2021

It’s worth noting that web accessibility (+439%) saw the biggest surge in consumption over Web accessibility 439%
the last four years. An accessible app or website ensures all your users, including those with
User interface 395%
disabilities, can access your information. Web accessibility is now such an important part
of information design, that it’s become policy for many global government agencies. Adobe XD 318%

Design theory 297%

Product design 254%

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 17

17
 Top 5 surging finance skills,
“”
C H A P T E R 2 / TA C T I C A L S K I L L S
2021 Interest in cryptocurrency
is growing because of its
Cryptocurrency

Finance
emergence on multiple fronts.

331% Beyond trading coins like

Bitcoin, it’s also seeing growth
Algorithmic trading thanks to the application of

& accounting 317%

Day trading
its underlying technology,
such as blockchain and smart
contracts. In the financial
space, for example, blockchain
From understanding the ramifications of your company’s 271% technology is used to process
IPO to learning about the uses of cryptocurrency, workforce financial transactions faster

financial literacy goes far beyond the finance team. From 2020 Bookkeeping and more accurately
than before.
to 2021, personal finance topics like cryptocurrency, Solidity 147%
(a programming language for blockchain platforms), and day – Steve Ballinger
Solidity Udemy finance
trading saw the largest surge in consumption. and investing instructor
127%
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021

INSIGHTS
Top 5 surging finance skills,
2017-2021

Traditional finance topics like bookkeeping (+552%) and financial markets (+263%) Stock trading 556%
saw steady growth over the last four years, showing that the foundations of finance
Bookkeeping 552%
remain important for organizations. 
Technical analysis 343%

Financial markets 263%

Algorithmic trading 244%

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 18

18
C H A P T E R 2 / TA C T I C A L S K I L L S Top 5 surging HR & talent development skills,
2021

Online course creation

Top HR

HR & talent
certifications
86%
Certifications — while not
mandatory — are popular
Human resources

development
among HR professionals.

84% AT LEAST

“Previously tasked with compensation, compliance, and benefits,”

Manager training
34%
56% of HR professionals
says Cara Brennan Allamano, SVP of People, Places, and Learning
hold at least one
at Udemy, “today’s HR functions are charged with supporting every Instructional design
certification.
aspect of the success and well-being of a company’s greatest asset: 49%
Both the Society for Human
its employees.” While HR professionals are expanding their expertise, Resources Management (SHRM)
Employee performance management
and the Human Resources
Udemy Business consumption shows they’re continuing to prioritize Certification Institute (which offers
24%
key skills like compliance, health and safety, and HR analytics. the popular PHR, Professional in
Human Resources certification
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021
offer certification programs.
Each type of certification requires
INSIGHTS a significant amount of time
Top 5 surging HR & talent development skills, and dedication to studying,
2017-2021 but the results seem to speak
for themselves.
Our HR and talent development data highlight two trends. First, HR teams are focused on Instructional design 182%
creating development content tailored to their company’s needs and personalized for its HR pros who have
Online course creation 156% certifications see a
workforce. We see this in the growth of online course creation and instructional design
course consumption. The second trend reiterates a Chapter 1 assertion: Manager and leadership
development is crucial to the health of a business. Hours spent on courses related to developing
Recruiting

Human resources
145%

112%
31%
manager training programs grew by 56% in the last year and 104% since 2017. pay boost to
Manager training 104%
their salaries.
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 19

C H A P T E R 2 / TA C T I C A L S K I L L S Top 5 surging marketing skills,
2021

Marketing analytics
It’s not just

Marketing
marketing teams
185% using marketing
Marketing strategy
analytics tools.
While marketing skill sets have focused on the digital world for Perhaps that’s why
119% the topic saw a
decades now, consumption trends of marketing topics on Udemy
Business over the last four years provide an interesting snapshot
of what’s happening in digital marketing. The EU’s GDPR (General
Content marketing

72%
185%
increase in hours
Data Protection Regulation) marked a shift in how brands use consumed in the
Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ)
consumer data. As consumers gain greater control over their digital last year.
data footprint, marketing teams are recalibrating their strategies 65%
and finding new ways to tie the results seen in marketing analytics Facebook ads Google Analytics
to customer behavior. proves itself a
54%
popular option within
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021
marketing analytics
INSIGHTS
with courses
Top 5 surging marketing skills, related to Google
2017-2021
Analytics Individual
It all comes down to the numbers when understanding the success of marketing YouTube marketing 285% Qualification (IQ)
activities. For example, digging into the Google Analytics numbers of a recent website surging
Business branding 264%
update can paint a picture of how a customer interacted with the changes through their
click journey on the site. These insights not only inform how the marketing team should
proceed but can also be used by sales teams for guidance on messages that resonate with
Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ)

Marketing strategy
256%

246%
256%
customers or by product teams to build a more intuitive user site experience.
in the last four years.
Instagram marketing 206%

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 20

20
 Top 5 surging project management skills,
“”
C H A P T E R 2 / TA C T I C A L S K I L L S
2021 In addition to managing
project complexities, active
PSPO (Professional Scrum Product Owner) certification

Project
listening is a key project

419% management skill. It’s the act

of keeping engaged while
PSM (Professional Scrum Master) certification talking with someone, so you

management 167%

Quality management
truly absorb what they have
to say. The role of a project
manager is often to ensure that
you communicate effectively
The increasing complexity of work projects — plus the challenges of 134% with all involved parties.
working remotely — mean project management is an in-demand skill. You must always be actively

Interest in efficiency-boosting tactics like Scrum and Agile has grown PMI (Project Management Institute) certification listening; you cannot be
waiting for your turn to talk.
dramatically over the past four years. And it’s not only technical teams 128%
that benefit from project management skills. Project management –Joseph Phillips
PMP (Project Management Professional) certification Udemy project
and operations knowledge is useful across any industry, from management instructor
126%
construction to health care to marketing.
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021

INSIGHTS
Top 5 surging project management skills,
2017-2021

Research from the Project Management Institute estimates that 25 million new Scrum 250%
project managers will be needed by 2030 to meet global talent demand. Without a
BPM (Business Process Management) 238%
project management strategy, teams are exposed to unclear goals, high risks, and the
likelihood a project goes over budget. Employers can avoid a future shortage of project Project risk management 208%

management talent by upskilling current employees. Lean 189%

Quality management 180%

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 21

 “”
C H A P T E R 2 / TA C T I C A L S K I L L S Top 5 surging sales & customer experience skills,
2021 Relationships matter.
It’s what makes or
Persuasion

Sales & customer

breaks trust and loyalty
78% between customers
and a company. Active
Negotiation listening, empathy,

experience 67%

B2B Sales
and curiosity are key
skills for sales and
customer experience
teams to ‘unrobot’
Sales and customer success teams evolved quickly in the last year to 27% their relationships
effectively manage customer relationships that became remote-first. with customers and
For employees accustomed to in-person conversations, this shift Customer success management build meaningful
provided breathing room to develop skills that helped them understand 25% connections.

their customers more. –Jenny Dempsey

Sales skills
Udemy Customer Experience
instructor
6%
Persuasion and negotiation are key skills when it comes to influencing
someone to buy a product. These skills are always in demand and need Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021

regular refinement.
Top 5 surging sales & customer experience skills,
2017-2021
INSIGHTS
Persuasion 382%

B2B Sales 224%

As customers and the competitive market shifts, customer-facing employees should expect Negotiation 151%
to adapt their style of persuasion and negotiation as well. That may be why consumption of
Sales skills 141%
courses related to persuasion are up 382% in the last four years and hours consumed of
negotiation courses are up 151% in the last four years. Customer success management 133%

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 22

22
22
CHAPTER 3

Technical
skills
Tech strategy is business strategy.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 23

23
CHAPTER 3 / TECHNICAL SKILLS

More companies
are implementing
cloud computing
solutions
And as they do, technical teams unlock new capabilities in

40
productivity and speed to market. As a result, an organization’s
business strategy and technology strategy are no longer separate
% Of CEOs said their CIO or tech leader will
be the key driver of business strategy.
entities. The technology decisions of today are key to sustaining a
long-lasting competitive edge in the future.
So with the growing focus on technical strategy, how should leaders focus
Companies must ensure that technical leaders have a seat at the table when business
their tech talent’s ongoing learning?
decisions are made. In a Deloitte–Wall Street Journal Intelligence survey, 40% of
CEOs said their CIO or tech leader will be the key driver of business strategy. We looked at course consumption growth across all technical Udemy Business
courses to help you understand which skills to emphasize in training programs
for the year ahead. We also took a look back to see which skills have been on an
upward trajectory for the last four years.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 24

24
CHAPTER 3 / TECHNICAL SKILLS

What this
means for your
organization
The skills required for technical roles are no longer exclusive to the job titles
for which they’re traditionally associated. As companies incorporate some
cloud solutions into their infrastructure, most tech employees will require some
familiarity with cloud computing technologies. Similarly, DevOps processes
for product development offer tech teams greater productivity and are a key
factor for the overlap in skills required for roles like developers, cybersecurity
specialists, or information architects. To keep their teams agile, tech team
leaders should consider how the skills mentioned in this chapter align with
their organization’s business priorities, and make learning plans to develop
those skills in employees, regardless of their official job title.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 25

25
 “”
CHAPTER 3 / TECHNICAL SKILLS Top 5 surging cloud computing skills,
2021 I’ve witnessed firsthand
that businesses are

Cloud
Google Cloud certification
accelerating their
645% cloud journey during
the pandemic. Many
Microsoft AZ-500 enterprises are going

computing 393%

Microsoft Azure
beyond the leaders —
AWS and Azure — and
adopting Google Cloud.
For those just starting
Similar to web development, many technical workers need to 264% their Google Cloud
be familiar with cloud computing tools and processes. From journey, certifications
Amazon AWS are a great place
cybersecurity specialists to data scientists, cloud computing
155% to begin.
knowledge helps cross-functional technical teams work efficiently
and within an agile process that ships products quickly. — Ranga Karanam
Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect
Azure, AWS, and GCP
Certifications Instructor
134%
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021

INSIGHTS Top 5 surging cloud computing skills,

2017-2021

Google Cloud 796%

In addition to the top surging cloud computing topics shown on this page, let’s take a look
at the cloud computing topics that saw overall most consumption in the last year. In order of Microsoft Azure 251%
most hours consumed, Udemy Business learners prioritized courses related to the following: AWS Lambda 202%
Microsoft Azure certification, Amazon AWS certification, and Google Cloud certification.
AWS CloudFormation 174%
This is in line with industry trends that see Amazon and Microsoft dominating the cloud
infrastructure market. Amazon AWS 158%

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

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CHAPTER 3 / TECHNICAL SKILLS Top 5 surging cybersecurity skills,
2021
Demand for cybersecurity skills
CompTIA CySA+ certification currently outpaces the supply

Cybersecurity
of qualified cybersecurity
155% talent, according to research
from the ​​Information Systems
Security Association (ISSA).
CISM (Certified Information Security Manager)
To address this skills gap,
With cyber crime becoming ever-more sophisticated and companies must look inward
135% and train existing employees in
widespread — and cybersecurity class-action lawsuits and the skills required to address
settlements in the hundreds of millions of dollars — companies CompTIA PenTest+ certification security risks. Topics related
to popular cybersecurity
can quite literally not afford to ignore the security of their IT 111% certifications have seen notable
growth on Udemy Business with
networks. Cybersecurity and corporate infrastructure are especially courses related to the CompTIA
CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional)
critical concerns as employees working away from their office CySA+ certification growing
155% in the last year. We can
networks or on personal devices increase the risk of hackers 76% also see how cybersecurity
training became an important
infiltrating a seemingly secure system. Wireshark priority to companies since
2017 as network security
48% (+149%) and ethical hacking
(138%) noted growing learner
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021 consumption.

INSIGHTS
Top 5 surging cybersecurity skills,
2017-2021

Wondering where to start your team’s cybersecurity upskilling? CompTIA CySA+ certification 275%

CompTIA, an IT trade association, offers the Security+ Certification, which is a vendor- CompTIA Security+ certification 243%
neutral security accreditation considered a foundational security certification. The exam Kali Linux 157%
covers identity and access management, installation and configuration of secure network
Network security 149%
components, secure network architecture, encryption and cryptography best practices,
threat detection, and more skills fundamental to cybersecurity roles. Ethical hacking 138%

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

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 “”
CHAPTER 3 / TECHNICAL SKILLS Top 5 surging data science skills,
2021 Given the increasing
importance of using
Amazon Sagemaker

Data science
data to make better
219% and faster decisions,
the ability to rapidly
AWS Certified Machine Learning Specialty build infrastructure and
With the democratization of data across organizations, which architecture for data
212%
we spoke of last year, data science teams are increasingly (data-engineer skills)
is likely to become
working with cross-functional technical teams on complex data Apache Airflow
more of a bottleneck
initiatives. Data teams are evolving to build the data architecture 178% than the ability to
for customer products and internal systems that use machine generate insights
Apache Spark (data-scientist skills).
learning capabilities and AI-powered analytics.
128% –McKinsey Digital

SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming

104%
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021

Top 5 surging data science skills,

2017-2021
INSIGHTS
Computer vision 254%

Pandas 202%
Data science team roles now include highly-skilled data engineers and machine Natural language processing 195%
learning engineers, who have complex data analysis skills along with some engineering.
Artificial intelligence 171%
The four-year consumption growth of computer vision (+254%) and natural language
processing (+195%) highlight the advancements data science teams are prioritizing. Elasticsearch 163%

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 28

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CHAPTER 3 / TECHNICAL SKILLS Top 5 surging IT operations skills,
2021

Database management
Consumption

IT Operations 475%

IT Service management
of courses related
to the Certified
Kubernetes
The IT teams of four years ago have few similarities to the IT Administrator
278%
teams of 2022 and beyond. As Jason Johnson, CIO of music credential grew
goods provider Sweetwater, finds: “We used to think of software
842%
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

development as a primary skill, and it still is; however, it’s rapidly 137% by
becoming the basis for all IT jobs. Using standard APIs and Ansible since 2017.
Storage area network
(Python) to roll out configuration changes or leveraging cloud
best practices that involve infrastructure as code using tools like 112%
Terraform. All of these skill sets require modern IT engineers to Oracle GoldenGate
think and be software developers.” Add the operations skills seen 105%
here and the growing development skills on the next page to your
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021
IT team’s learning plans for the year ahead.
Top 5 surging IT operations skills,
INSIGHTS 2017-2021

Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) 842%

Operational skills like server administration (+398% consumption since 2017), Server administration 398%
database management (+475% consumption y/y), and computer networking (+202% Cisco Nexus 379%
consumption since 2017) continue to be important for IT specialists. But expect new topics
Computer network 202%
like Kubernetes to grow in the IT industry as well; consumption of courses related to the
Certified Kubernetes Administrator credential grew by 842% since 2017. PowerShell 183%

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

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CHAPTER 3 / TECHNICAL SKILLS Top 5 surging software development skills,
2021

Terraform
Software

Software
development’s
372% many hats
Python scripting Udemy Business customer

development
Synechron has always placed
314% an emphasis on developing its
talent. But in the last year the
company embraced a growing
React hooks
trend and prioritized moving its
Coding experience is becoming a required skill in tech functions 295% web development teams away
from specializations to holistic
regardless of the job description. It’s a trend helping teams bring programming knowledge.
products to market faster. “Almost 60% of developers are releasing Prometheus Employees needed access to a
breadth of technical training.
code 2x faster than before, thanks to DevOps,” according to 248%
GitLab’s 2021 report, A Maturing DevSecOps Landscape. “In a
“”
SwiftUI
trend that we saw starting in 2020, developer roles continue to shift,
234% Just having .NET
taking on more responsibility for what were traditionally ops roles.” or Java framework
Percentage consumption growth compared from 2020 to 2021 knowledge is no longer
sufficient. We had
INSIGHTS
Top 5 surging software development skills, to train employees
2017-2021 to become full-stack
What does this mean for your organization? developers, and acquire
Google Flutter 966% many other necessary
It means extending skills and methods traditionally used by software engineers to entire
Terraform 224% modern skills.
technical teams. So embracing an agile methodology isn’t just for the software development
process, but should be key in your approach to training development teams. And finding Open API specification 656%
–Varun Patil
time is always a factor. Encourage a learning culture with opportunities for developers to Dart (programming language) 587% Senior Manager of HR
learn in the flow of work instead of waiting for an hours-long training seminar. Development at Synechron
Continuous delivery 574%

Percentage consumption growth compared from 2017 to 2021

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 30

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CONCLUSION

With the right

skills, anything’s Speak to our learning experts
to discover proven methods for building a

possible
robust learning culture where employees
eagerly learn, share information, and drive
innovation across the company.
Regardless of whether your employee development plans focus on
technical skills, tactical skills, or power (formerly known as soft skills)
skills, an internal learning culture is your competitive edge. By building
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learning as an expectation into the flow of work, each member of
the workforce is empowered to own their learning experience and
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proactively and immediately. Learning and applying new skills in
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— it helps your company stay competitive and adapt to anything.

2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report 31

ABOUT US

Udemy’s mission is to create new possibilities for people and

organizations everywhere by connecting them to the knowledge We are trusted by 8,600+
and skills they need to succeed in a changing world. Fueled by the businesses around the world
Udemy marketplace, Udemy Business helps companies achieve
critical business outcomes and stay competitive by offering fresh,
relevant, and personalized on-demand learning.

The Udemy Business subscription is a curation of top-rated

courses taught by real-world experts from the Udemy marketplace.
Our content covers key business and technical topics ranging
from development and IT to leadership, marketing, design, stress
management, and much more. In addition to a curated content
collection, we offer a platform to drive effective learning as well as METHODOLOGY

tools for leaders to host and distribute their own proprietary content. The 2022 Workplace Learning Trends Report is based on data from the learning behavior of thousands
of global companies using the Udemy Business platform. All Udemy Business courses are associated
with topics, with each course having up to five topics. These topics are what you see as the trending skill
topics within the report. For courses with multiple topics, consumption minutes are divided equally across
business.udemy.com all topics associated with those courses.

Year-over-year topic data compares the consumption of courses in the Udemy Business collection from
July 1, 2019–July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2020–July 1, 2021. The four-year topic data looks at the average year-
over-year growth rates of course consumptions from July 1, 2017-July 1, 2021.

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