2025 Tech Skills Report
Tech is changing fast. Your skills strategy needs to move faster.
Explore what’s holding organizations back from innovation and adoption. Learn how practitioners can build in-demand technology skills—from cloud computing to AI—while leaders foster a future-ready workforce with the right tech skills training.
Adapt or fall behind
48% of IT professionals have abandoned projects due to a lack of tech skills
- Cybersecurity, cloud, and AI/ML are the top 3 tech skills gaps.
- The tech skills gap reduces collaboration and efficiency across roles.
- The result: burned-out teams, missed deadlines, and blocked revenue.
Skill development pays off
89% of organizations say upskilling is more cost-effective than hiring new talent
- 43% say it’s faster to upskill than hire new IT talent.
- Most orgs spend under $5,000 per person to upskill, which is far less than the cost to hire.
- Certifications are the #1 way IT professionals earn raises or promotions.
Learning culture misalignment
95% of IT and business professionals say they need more support (despite leaders calling learning a top priority)
- “Finding time to learn” is the top barrier, for the fourth year in a row.
- Less than half of orgs (46%) give employees time to learn on the job.
- Leaders must support continuing education for technologists to close critical skills gaps and build a culture of learning.
“The fact that 95% of professionals still feel under-resourced reveals a persistent execution gap between leadership intent and day-to-day enablement. Closing this gap requires leaders to move from aspirational statements about culture to measurable action, embedding continuous learning into performance reviews, workforce planning, and leadership accountability.”
Matt Lloyd Davies
Cybersecurity Researcher and Principal Author, Pluralsight