It’s that time of year again (and no, we’re not talking about the holidays). It’s time to drill down on plans for the coming year and evaluate the technologies and strategies that may have the biggest impact. How do you know where to start? What trends should you take seriously? Which skills do you need to invest in? To help you sift through the hype, we’ve called on our author community and internal experts to give you insight. So what’s coming in 2018? Read on …

AI & machine learning

“The biggest trend we’ll see in 2018 is easily artificial intelligence/machine learning. It has the power to flip every industry upside down and replace all of our jobs!” –David Liu, Salesforce Technical Architect

Angular

“Now that Angular has reached version 5, it has become such a smooth and natural fit for most back-end technologies.”–Joe Eames, JavaScript and Angular expert

Augmented reality

“Augmented reality (AR) is going to take off commercially. Apple ARKit, Google ARCore and Windows Mixed Reality will dominate this space and create experiences that will delight and enhance our everyday life. As a result of this boom, there will be a focus on hiring engineers that understand virtual and augmented reality and can build efficient and engaging experiences.” –Lars Klint, Microsoft MVP and Windows Platform authority

Containers

“The tooling around containers will improve in 2018 and make it easier to learn, use and scale. Containers will be able to run anywhere.” –John Papa, Principal Developer Advocate with Microsoft

DevOps & automation

“As the number of servers and other assets under management continues to increase, without a corresponding increase in staffing, the decade-old approach to IT management simply starts to fail. Extreme automation becomes a necessity, not a luxury. With that in mind, I think the most in-demand skills will all revolve around DevOps and automation, including scripting languages like Python and PowerShell, cloud-based compute and automation solutions, and DevOps stacks that include build integration tooling.” –Don Jones, Director of Technology Curriculum at Pluralsight

Domain-driven design

“While I’ve always been a proponent of domain-driven design, the skills and guidance that it provides align perfectly with microservices which partner with containers. Comprehending this type of architecture will very important for devs seeking to take advantage of the microservices wave.” –Julie Lerman, Microsoft MVP and Entity Framework expert

IoT security

“While it’s been trending for a few years now, I predict Internet of Things (IoT) security will rise to the top of the security trend list in 2018. IoT security is a complex and multifaceted problem, and one that affects all organizations. Businesses need to be proactive with the security of their IoT devices, whether it’s those they produce or those they consume.” –Meghan Manfre, Curriculum Manager at Pluralsight

IT service delivery

“One can guess that one of the bigger trends for 2018 will revolve around the question, ‘how fast is too fast?’ Security is obviously important, but so is functionality. A faster world demands we spend ever more time keeping up, with ever less time keeping those things we have still running. While it works for some software, the new-every-six-months delivery model for the Windows OS is beginning to show signs of strain. Figuring out if and where we need to slow down will very likely be one of the bigger trends — or, at least, conversations — for 2018.” –Greg Shields, IT industry analyst and Author Evangelist at Pluralsight

JavaScript

“JavaScript is still growing and improving in many ways. To reach everyone, we need to know how to optimize our code.” –John Papa, Principal Developer Advocate with Microsoft

React

“React is very popular and will likely continue to be now that Facebook has resolved the licensing controversy. It has become the first choice alternative to Angular and only continues to gain traction.” –Joe Eames, JavaScript and Angular expert

BONUS: soft skills to focus on

Communication

“Communication is the heart of a great developer. Making connections with business stakeholders, project managers, fellow technologists and leaders is crucial to moving forward in your career. Tech skills are one piece of the puzzle, but when added with solid communication skills, the ceiling is raised considerably.” –John Papa, Principal Developer Advocate with Microsoft

Lifelong learning

“Go learn a new language or a new operating system. Put the Linux subsystem on your Windows machine or try a new IDE for coding. If you keep yourself agile and flexible, then you’ll always be prepared to learn the new skills that you need for work or to push your career forward.” –Julie Lerman, Microsoft MVP and Entity Framework expert