The Technology Skills Every Employee Should Have Today
当代员工必备的IT技能
Many employers expect workers to be proficient in a host of tech tools. Among them: data analysis, online collaboration and project management.
许多雇主都希望员工能熟练运用一系列技术工具，涵盖数据分析、在线协作、项目管理等。
Sean Captain
肖恩·开普敦
In today’s workplace, just knowing the basics of Word and Excel won’t cut it anymore.
现如今的职场，仅仅掌握Word和Excel的基本功能，已经不够了。
An explosion of analytical, organizational and communication technologies is remaking every aspect of office work. Whether people work in sales, marketing, project management, design or many other fields, employers expect them to manipulate and analyze data, and bundle it into slick presentations. And as remote work has become the norm, people must know the advanced features of online collaboration.
分析、组织和沟通技术的大爆发正在重塑办公室工作的方方面面。无论是从事销售、营销、项目管理、设计或是其他诸多领域的工作，雇主都希望员工可以处理和分析数据，并将其制作成漂亮的演示文稿。而随着远程办公已成常态，人们还必须掌握在线协作工具的高级功能。
“There is no debate as to whether technology is not just an enabler, but is really a driver of disruption, of change, of value, within organizations,” says Columbia Business School dean Costis Maglaras. “And as a result, [there] needs to be some core knowledge that people need to bring with them, even if they’re not going to be technologists themselves.”
“在组织内部，技术不单只是起到赋能作用，它的确还能产生颠覆效应，能够带来变革与价值，这一点毫无争议。”哥伦比亚大学商学院（Columbia Business School）院长科斯蒂斯·马格拉斯（Costis Maglaras）说，“因此，人们需要掌握一些核心知识，即便他们自己不用成为技术专家。”
Tech research and advisory firm Gartner’s 2022 Digital Worker Survey found that the average office worker uses 11 applications on the job, and 17% use 16 or more apps.
技术研究与咨询公司Gartner的《2022年数字员工调查》（2022 Digital Worker Survey）发现，普通的办公室上班族在工作中会用到11种应用程序，有17%的人会用到16种甚至更多。
Some of these skills can be learned on the job. But many employers expect workers to be proficient coming in, often with specific, big-name applications, says Julia Pollak, chief economist at online employment marketplace ZipRecruiter.
其中有些技能可以在工作中学会。但网络招聘平台ZipRecruiter的首席经济学家茱莉亚·波拉克（Julia Pollak）指出，许多雇主都希望员工入职时就能技术娴熟，尤其是对于一些特定的热门应用程序。
So, what are the tech skills that office workers need today—and what apps do they need to know to get the job done? We asked employers, staffing agencies, consultants, educators and others to find out.
那么，如今的办公室上班族需要掌握哪些技术方面的技能？——要完成工作，他们需要了解哪些应用程序？对此，我们询问了雇主、人才中介、咨询师以及教育学者等人。
Make sense of data
解读数据
Companies are generating ever more data about sales, productivity and other aspects of business. And they expect workers to be up to speed on software that makes sense of all those numbers.
如今，企业在销售、生产力及其他业务领域产生的数据变得越来越多，于是便希望员工能够及时掌握可以解读这些数据的软件。
Microsoft Corp.’s Power BI and Salesforce-owned Tableau have emerged as leading data-visualization programs, says Gartner analyst Joe Mariano. The course Power BI Essential Training, for instance, was the 13th most-popular offering on LinkedIn Learning in 2022.
Gartner分析师乔·马里亚诺（Joe Mariano）谈到，微软（Microsoft Corp.）的Power BI和Salesforce旗下的Tableau已成为数字可视化领域的头部软件。例如，在线教育平台领英学习（LinkedIn Learning） 2022年热门课程排行榜上，“Power BI基础培训”（Power BI Essential Training）就位列第13名。
With pointing and clicking, and some automated AI suggestions, workers can combine multiple data sources – such as spreadsheets, databases or customer-relationship-management software – and turn them into charts and other graphics. Managers can see how sales break down by region, month, year or individual salespeople. Urban planners can build maps that show the flow of people around a city over the course of the day.
只需移动光标轻轻一点，再辅以自动化的人工智能（AI）建议，员工便可以将多个数据来源——如电子表格、数据库或客户关系管理软件——结合起来，并将其转化成图表或其他图形。管理者可以按地区、月份、年份或是销售人员来查看具体的销售情况。城市规划者则能绘制出显示城市一天当中人流量的地图。
But it is still critical to be familiar with traditional software such as Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets from Alphabet Inc.’s Google, says LinkedIn’s resident career expert, Catherine Fisher. Along with the usual tasks, says ZipRecruiter’s Ms. Pollak, workers need to know advanced features such as pivot tables that allow traditional spreadsheets to do some of the things that Power BI or Tableau do, such as automatically producing reports or graphics by comparing subsets of data extracted from spreadsheets.
不过，常驻领英的职场专家凯瑟琳·费舍尔（Catherine Fisher）指出，熟练掌握传统软件依然重要，如微软Excel和Alphabet Inc.旗下谷歌（Google）的Google Sheets。ZipRecruiter的波拉克说，除常规任务外，员工还要了解数据透视表等高级功能，它可以让传统电子表格实现Power BI或是Tableau的部分功能，例如对比电子表格中提取的数据子集，然后自动生成报告或图表。
In fact, LinkedIn Learning’s No. 2 class was in Excel, and Excel accounts for six of the top 10 office-productivity skills people are learning on online learning platform Udemy. Spreadsheet programs, whether from Microsoft or Google, were among the top skills that LinkedIn members added to their profiles last year, says Ms. Fisher.
事实上，领英学习上排名第二的课程就是关于Excel的，网络学习平台Udemy的用户目前正在学习的提高办公效率的十大技能中，Excel也占据了六席。费舍尔说，领英用户去年在个人资料中添加的前几大技能中，就有微软或谷歌的电子制表软件这一项。
Create compelling presentations
制作生动的演示文稿
Along with Excel or Sheets, it is essential for workers to know other traditional office programs – Word or Google Docs, for instance, and PowerPoint or Google Slides, says Art Markman, vice provost for continuing and professional education at the University of Texas at Austin. But, again, employers don’t just want people to know the basics of how to set up a document or slide deck – they expect workers to know advanced features of the programs.
得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（University of Texas at Austin）负责继续教育与职业教育的副教务长阿特·马克曼（Art Markman）谈到，对员工来说，除Excel和Google Sheets外，掌握其他传统办公软件也很重要，如Word或Google Docs，以及PowerPoint或Google Slides。但同样，雇主不仅希望员工知晓如何创建文件或是幻灯片这些基本功能，还要会运用其中的高级功能。
“People just have higher expectations now when they receive a document or a deck,” says Ms. Pollak. “They want it to tell a compelling story. They want it to have a professional look and feel.” In a presentation, that might mean adding animations to illustrate a point instead of just static images. In word processing, employers might want advanced formatting such as linking between sections of documents, Ms. Pollak says, as well as familiarity with collaborative features such as sharing and commenting.
“现在当人们拿到一份文档或是幻灯片时，他们的预期比以前更高。”波拉克说，“人们希望它能讲述一个生动的故事，希望它能给人一种专业的感觉。”这或许意味着，在陈述观点时，演示文稿中不能只有静态图像，还要有动态画面。她说，就文字处理而言，雇主可能想看到更高级的版式，例如文档各部分之间可以相互链接，此外还要熟悉分享、评论等协作功能。
“One of the big things that I knew that I needed to strengthen was my presentation [and] delivery skills,” says Melissa Barron, a 2022 M.B.A. graduate from the University of Texas at Austin who works in strategy for grocery giant H-E-B. That involves building a lot of sophisticated decks in Microsoft PowerPoint, with advanced features including videos and custom colors. She sometimes turns to online design program Canva to create graphics.
“我知道自己需要加强的一个重点是我的呈现和展示能力。”梅丽莎·巴伦（Melissa Barron）说，这位得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校2022届的MBA毕业生目前供职于超市巨头H-E-B的战略部门。其工作涉及用微软PowerPoint制作大量精美的幻灯片，并且要用到视频、自定义颜色等高级功能。有时，她会借助在线设计软件Canva来制作图表。
Master communication tools
熟谙沟通工具
Tools for organizing remote meetings – such as Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Salesforce Inc.’s Slack – have taken off since the pandemic. But many office workers know just the rudiments of these programs.
自新冠疫情以来，远程会议工具——如Zoom、Google Meet、Microsoft Teams和Salesforce Inc.的Slack——发展势头强劲。但许多办公室上班族只了解它们的基本功能。
“When we look at Microsoft Teams specifically, people are using chat and meetings, no problem,” says Mr. Mariano. “What they’re not doing is using the most advanced services,” such as channels for discussing specific topics or projects within a team. Employees must also know how to link other apps to these meeting programs, he says, so that they can share files and manage projects.
“拿Microsoft Teams来说，人们会使用它的聊天和会议功能，这些都没问题。”马里亚诺说，“但他们不曾用到最高级的功能”，例如可以在团队内部讨论特定主题或项目的方法。他说，员工还必须知道如何将其他应用程序接入这些会议软件，这样他们就能分享文档、管理项目。
In addition, employers want people to know advanced features of one of the most venerable communications applications of all: email. Managing mail – such as curating lists, sending mass mailings and writing effective subject lines – is another top skill on LinkedIn profiles. Communication is the top skill on ZipRecruiter’s Skills Index, with Microsoft Outlook ranking 20th.
除此之外，雇主还希望员工能更深入地了解最庄重的通讯软件之一——电子邮件，掌握它的高级功能。管理电子邮件——如整理邮件列表、群发邮件和撰写有效的邮件主题——是领英用户在个人资料中列出的另一项排名靠前的技能。在ZipRecruiter的技能指数（Skills Index）中，排名第一的便是沟通能力，相比之下，掌握Microsoft Outlook仅排在第20位。
Manage projects
管理项目
Organizational and planning programs are making it easier to coordinate work through features such as task management, time tracking and file sharing.
通过任务管理、时间追踪、文档共享等功能，组织和规划类软件让协调工作变得更容易。
For instance, a marketing company can automate workflows so that when one person completes a task, the next person on the flow is automatically alerted. These programs link to other apps and services, such as Google Drive, so that workers can access the relevant documents directly from the management software. And they can track time spent on each task to evaluate productivity or determine billing for clients.
例如，一家营销公司可以将其工作流程自动化，这样当一个人完成手头任务后，流程中的下一个人便能自动收到提醒。这些软件可以接入其他应用程序或服务，如Google Drive，如此一来，员工就可以直接从项目管理软件中访问相关文件。他们还可以追踪每项任务所花的时间，以此评估工作效率或是确定应向客户收取的费用。
Ms. Barron, for instance, uses project-management software Asana; knowledge of the program was one of the tech skills most frequently added to LinkedIn profiles in 2022. Atlassian-owned planning software Trello was also on the list. Other leading apps, according to Mr. Mariano, include ClickUp and Smartsheet. Project management is the fifth most popular tech certification, according to Credly, a service from Pearson PLC that online-educational providers use to manage their digital-credential programs.
例如，巴伦就在使用项目管理软件Asana；这是2022年领英用户加入个人资料中最多的科技技能之一。Atlassian旗下规划软件Trello也位列其中。据马里亚诺，其他的头部应用程序还包括ClickUp和Smartsheet。根据培生集团（Pearson PLC）旗下Credly，项目管理在最受欢迎的技术认证排行榜中位列第五。在线教育提供商会利用Credly来管理数字认证项目。
Make things automatic
引入自动化
As powerful as any software gets, using it still requires a lot of pointing and clicking, often on the same buttons and icons again and again. Robotic process automation lets people create small scripts called robots that take over the job of performing repetitive computer tasks. For instance, a robot might be programmed to replicate the steps that humans would normally take to route documents or read forms and enter the information into a database.
不管一种软件功能多强大，使用过程中还是需要不停移动光标并点击，而且通常要反复点击相同的按键和图标。有了机器人流程自动化，人们可以创建自动操作指令，让它们来完成那些重复性的电脑任务。例如可以通过编程，让自动指令复制人类在发送文件、查阅表格，然后将信息输入数据库时通常会进行的操作。
“The name of the game right now is efficiencies,” says Mike Steinitz, senior executive director at staffing and consulting firm Robert Half. “What do we need to do to be more efficient? Which means the automation of a lot of different things.”
“如今拼的就是效率。”人力资源及咨询公司罗致恒富（Robert Half）高级执行董事麦克·斯泰尼茨（Mike Steinitz）说，“我们要如何提高效率？就是很多事情都要实现自动化。”
The skills needed to create robots aren’t necessarily complex. Many use a method called “no code” – all you need to do is point and click to select data sources, applications and types of actions to link together. Microsoft’s Power Automate tool, which has no-code capabilities, was the fastest-growing office-productivity skill on Udemy in 2022.
编写自动指令不一定需要复杂的技能。许多人会利用一种名为“无代码”的方法——你要做的就是点选数据源、应用程序和操作类型，然后将它们合并起来。微软的Power Automate就具备“无代码”功能，它也是2022年Udemy上学习人数增长最快的提高办公效率的技能。
Do some programming
学点编程
Still, it’s sometimes helpful for employees to learn some coding, says Columbia Business School professor Ciamac Moallemi. For instance, Excel supports many types of analyses, but at a certain level of complexity, or when the amount of data grows too large, it’s easier to do the calculations in a programming language like Python, says Dr. Moallemi.
尽管如此，哥伦比亚大学商学院教授西马克·莫拉米（Ciamac Moallemi）指出，有时候员工学一点编程还是有用的。莫拉米博士说，就比如Excel支持多种类型的分析功能，但若是达到一定的复杂程度，或者数据量过大时，选择Python这样的编程语言来计算会更容易。
And workers don’t have to be master coders, because they can download modules of open-source code called packages that are designed to perform the analyses they need. Python is LinkedIn Learning’s ninth most-popular course offering, says Ms. Fisher, and Columbia Business School reports that over half its current students are using Python in their classes.
员工也无需成为编程达人，因为他们可以下载开源代码模块，这些被称为“软件包”的模块可以执行他们所需要的分析指令。而今，Python在领英学习最受欢迎的课程排名中位列第九，费舍尔说，哥伦比亚商学院也表示，目前该校超过一半的在校生会在课堂上使用Python。
Dr. Moallemi also recommends SQL, a language for querying databases, which ranked 15th on LinkedIn Learning. For instance, using SQL, you can retrieve a subset of data you want, such as how customers of certain ages in certain regions are buying certain products.
莫拉米还推荐了数据库查询语言SQL，它在领英学习的榜单上位列第15。借助SQL，你可以检索到你想要的数据子集，如特定地区、特定年龄段的客户会如何购买特定产品。
There’s another benefit to learning coding, says Dr. Maglaras: better collaboration. Basic coding skills help businesspeople work with programmers, data scientists and user-experience designers in their teams.
马格拉斯博士说，学习编程还有一个好处：增强团队协作。掌握基本的编程技能有助于业务人员更好地与团队中的程序员、数据科学家以及用户体验设计师展开合作。
Offload work to AI
巧用AI
With the explosion of tools like ChatGPT for generating text and code, and Stable Diffusion and Midjourney for creating images, some level of AI is accessible to everyone.
随着AI工具的大量出现，无论是生成文本和代码的ChatGPT，还是生成图像的Stable Diffusion和 Midjourney，如今，某种程度的AI可以说是人人触手可得。
For instance, Microsoft just announced a service called Copilot that infuses AI models including OpenAI’s GPT-4 – the technology underlying ChatGPT – across its workplace apps. Word and Outlook, for example, will be able to generate text automatically, based on information in other documents, or PowerPoint could create presentations based on a user’s natural-language instructions and material from other documents. Meanwhile, Salesforce’s Slack will use OpenAI’s technology to summarize conversations and help draft messages.
例如，微软刚刚推出了名为Copilot的服务，将包括OpenAI旗下GPT-4在内的AI模型整合到自身的一系列办公软件中（GPT-4是ChatGPT背后技术的新版本）。举例来说，Word和Outlook将可以根据其他文件中的信息自动生成文本，PowerPoint也可以根据用户的自然语言指令以及其他文件中的素材来自动创建演示文稿。与此同时，Salesforce的Slack将借助OpenAI的技术对谈话进行总结，并辅助内容起草。
Since ChatGPT was introduced on Nov. 30, instructors on Udemy have launched over 300 courses on the tool, including using it to summarize documents and debug code.
自从去年11月30日ChatGPT问世以来，Udemy上的教学者已推出了逾300门有关该工具的课程，包括如何利用它来总结文件、调试代码。
Allie K. Miller, an AI investor and adviser who led AI businesses at IBM and Amazon Web Services, says most people should learn high-level principles of AI in a class such as AI for Everyone by Coursera co-founder Andrew Ng, and try out any new tools that show promise of saving work.
AI投资人兼顾问Allie K. Miller曾在IBM和亚马逊云业务Amazon Web Services负责AI业务，她说，大多数人都应通过一些课程来学习AI的高级原理，例如在线课程平台Coursera联合创始人吴恩达（Andrew Ng）开设的“AI for Everyone”，同时，对于任何有望节省工作量的新工具，都应该去尝试。
“Think about things that you do often, and apply AI to that task to see if you can find 80% efficiency gains on something that you don’t want to be an expert in,” she says. “Like, I don’t want to be an expert email writer.”
“想想你经常要完成的任务，然后把AI运用进来，看看你能否在自己不想成为专家的事情上，把效率提高80%。”她说，“就比如，我并不想成为写电子邮件的专家。”
