For much of 2020, companies focused on quickly shifting their operations to deal with the pandemic. That spiked demand for sysadmins, cybersecurity experts, and other technologists who are tasked with keeping systems up and running (and secure). With vaccines rolling out, though, many businesses are shifting their focus from the immediate to the longer-term—which could have an impact on technologist hiring.

Over the past 90 days, there’s been considerable demand for technologists with project management and software development skills, which are needed for companies to fulfill their strategic roadmaps. That’s in addition to a continuing need for technologists skilled in some of the most common programming languages, such as Java and Python, that provide the foundation for these projects. 

Check out the full list of the top 30 tech skills demanded by employers right now, as generated by Burning Glass, which collects and analyzes millions of job postings from across the country:

In this current job market, having project management skills clearly puts you at an advantage. The median project manager salary is $80,280, according to Burning Glass, which rises with skills and experience, of course. In addition, here are the key skills that many employers want project managers to possess:

Mastering project-management methods such as Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and even Waterfall (yes, many organizations—particularly ones that are huge, and/or build hardware—still stick to Waterfall) is one thing; as you can see from the list above “soft skills” such as communication and empathy are also key for any project manager, as it’s fundamentally a job of relationships. 

Soft skills are key to a vast majority of tech jobs, even the ones you might not expect. Software development, for example, often requires communicating needs, timetables, and other bits of information to stakeholders; a little bit of empathy (and a lot of listening) can help non-technical colleagues understand exactly what you need and when a final product will be delivered.

As with our previous analyses of the most in-demand skills, it’s also clear that learning the world’s most popular programming languages, such as Python and JavaScript, is pretty much always useful, no matter what your industry or company focus. And keep in mind that, if you want to unlock higher salaries and better perks, it’s always a good idea to specialize in cutting-edge skill-sets such as artificial intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning.