The working landscape is changing for everyone. Technology is growing at the fastest pace we’ve ever seen.

Five million jobs will be lost to automation by 2020. Occupations that once seemed relatively secure, such as customer service, retail, and administration, no longer hold the security they once did.

To stay ahead of the curve and excel in your career, be that tech-oriented or not, you should start to think about building a bank of skills which are future-proof and put you in good stead to keep your skill set current.

So, what are some of the newest occupations with the highest demand? What do they tell you about the skills you need to stay future-proof and employable?

3 Technology Skills All Women Need to be Future-Proof

1. Programming

If we’re going to be taken over by robots, someone has to help build and program these impending killing machines.

Programmers and developers are in high demand but low supply. This results in high salaries and plenty of opportunities. As businesses increasingly become more and more digitalized, the range of industries and organizations you could work for are incredibly vast. From website to software to machine programming, there’s just so much scope.

Furthermore, programming is a useful skill in other professions. For instance, a marketer who can work on a website has the skills to save a business time and money. Blended skill sets like this will increase with new generations. It’s important to keep up.

The growth of technology will have a huge effect on the job market. Yesterday’s manual labor could become tomorrow’s programmer. Could coders become the blue-collar workers of tomorrow?

The lack of skill in this field means there are ample retraining opportunities. Companies all over the world, funded privately and by governments, work to train and retrain people into coding careers. From Skillcrush, who offer affordable courses which prepare you for employment, to Code Academy who helps you learn for free at your own pace, there are many options to learn to code. Beyond this, subscription sites such as Lynda and Treehouse can help top up skills or get a basic understanding of many coding concepts.

[RELATED: Why Women Excel in Business and STEM]

2. Data Science

We’ve never been more impacted by data than we are today. Every two days, we create more data than we have throughout history up until 2003. Needless to say, data management, analysis, security, and storage occupations are growing and will continue to do so.

Many argue we currently suffer from a skills shortage in this field. Whilst this is a concern, it’s also a huge opportunity for young women to break into careers which are high paying, available at a surplus, and demonstrate opportunities for growth.

There are many ways you can train to begin a career in this sector. A technology, computer science, or business administration degree is a good start, but isn’t necessary. If you clearly demonstrate analytical and problem-solving skills, you’ve formed a good base for a career with data.

Due to the lack of professionals in the field, companies such as Salesforce are encouraging retraining by offering a free learning platform called Trailhead.

This CRM (customer relationship management) software company not only presents opportunities internally but the nature of their offering means there is ample opportunity to work with the software across a range of sectors. This is how they’re able to boast a job growth rise of 48% year on year, with a predicted two million jobs by 2020.

Salesforce also ranks highly for its pay and employee satisfaction rates and is often praised for its ethical stance, pioneering for change for women in technology.

3. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence, in the way we know it today, is a relatively new concept, and an even newer occupation. It’s a job which blurs the lines between data science and coding.

As this occupation is so new, a career in this field is high level. You’ll need an undergrad degree, perhaps even further education, to break into the research development side of AI. You need maths, physics, and computing skills.

Much like the aforementioned tech jobs, there is a higher requirement than there is demand. The Institute states: “The need for AI specialists exists in just about every field as companies seek to give computers the ability to think, learn, and adapt.” This really highlights just how important AI growth will be for businesses over the coming years.

AI is increasingly creeping its way into every aspect of our lives. As a marketer, demonstrating an understanding of AI and how it can be utilized is a great skill. You can use your knowledge of AI to understand how new technologies will reach consumers.

Women are the answer to the tech skills gap!

Women comprise 47% of the workforce but represent roughly 20% of tech workers. More women learning technology skills and entering tech-oriented careers will help resolve the immediate need as well as improve representation.

As technology becomes an increasing part of our life, related skills become an expectation. Getting ahead of the curb and equipping yourself with knowledge and practice of these sought-after jobs makes you more likely to stand out from the crowd and land the jobs you want.