what technical skills are employees looking for 
technical skills are practical and related to the tools and knowledge you ll need to perform a job these skills include proficiency in programming languages like python or java software applications such as adobe creative suite data analysis tools like sql or tableau and specialized equipment or machinery relevant technical skills are typically learned through formal education training or hands on experience and are essential for roles that demand specialized technical expertise in decades past technical skills were merely for would be technicians but virtually every resume includes them at this point since every job requires some expertise in the systems a business uses general abilities in communication teamwork or creativity while valuable do not count as technical skills instead these are classified as soft skills the distinction is important because technical skills reveal your ability to handle the specific technical demands of a job which can be critical in fields ranging from information technology it and engineering to marketing and finance below we provide a table with some of the key technical skills and complementary sets of expertise for major fields especially in finance and investing and go into detail about several fields below that accounting requires specific technical skills that extend beyond basic mathematics today s accounting professionals rely on a suite of software products such as microsoft excel for computing and analysis therefore these workers need a sophisticated working knowledge of various software although most accounting processes are automated accountants still need to be proficient in understanding and preparing financial statements e g balance sheets income statements and statements of cash flows central to accounting these documents shed light on the health of a company or person s portfolio research is another important and often overlooked technical skill needed in accounting some situations require extensive and independent research for example an accountant may need to learn how a new law affects how assets are classified or gather information about a new accounting principle data science combines sophisticated mathematics and statistics data scientists often work alongside and have overlapping duties and responsibilities with data engineers data analysts and machine learning engineers essential technical skills for data science professionals include the following in addition to sophisticated technical skills some data science jobs require professionals to have formal training or academic backgrounds in computer science engineering or statistics in finance sought after technical skills are more sophisticated than those in traditional business and accounting disciplines core financial technical skills include the following technical analysis in this context refers to the ability to read market charts and trends this requires various mathematical skills to produce price chart analysis and model trends that look at historical information to predict future price movements for example to produce a linear regression model for technical analysis the market analyst must have the skills and knowledge necessary to properly gather the historical data perform necessary calculations and use the output to generate a visual representation of current and historical data generally accepted accounting principles gaap outline the rules and regulations for us accountants whereas the international financial reporting standards ifrs are the standard in other nations 