With almost two months of lockdown, work from home has now become a reality for most of us.
The WFH jobs have seen 2X rise alone in the third week of April in comparison with WFH jobs in March first week.
Now that most of the companies have seen work from home and remote working as a doable solution, they are specifically willing to offer more remote jobs.
Also, industries like IT and Software, software services, data science, and insurance are the ones which are fully compatible for the work from home models.
We have looked at the list of remote jobs and identified top 20 skills that can get you a high paying work-from-home job.
These skills are:
To make you ready for this new beginning, we have curated a list of the most trending courses which you can take up from home, along with a list of skills which recruiters are more likely to demand.
We also present you a way to upskill and reskill yourself.
Business insights and analytics
Data analyst
If you are looking for a work from home job as a data analyst then expect tasks like pulling data from SQL databases, work on tools like MS Excel, Tableau or Power BI, and produce basic data v_isualizations and reporting dashboards.
You will be responsible to regulate, normalize, and calibrate the data so that it can be easily extracted and used.
You may seek employment opportunities across different sectors like finance, consulting, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and education.
Skills
You must have the knowledge of –
- Data warehousing and business intelligence platforms
- Database design
- Data mining
- Data cleaning and munging
- Data visualization and reporting techniques
- Machine learning techniques
- Programming (e.g. XML, Javascript or ETL frameworks)
- R and/or SAS languages
- SQL databases
- Statistical methods and packages
- Hadoop & MapReduce
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Business Intelligence analyst
A BI analyst is responsible to transform data into insights that can drive business value.
The primary task includes collecting, cleaning, collating, analyzing, and presenting raw data for creating insightful business information.
You would require you to combine the concepts of data gathering, data storage, and knowledge management, and convert large volumes of data into reports and dashboards.
As a BI analyst, you will be helping business leaders and managers make business decisions to modernize and improve processes in the organization.
Skills
You must upgrade yourself on skills like -
- Data warehousing
- Data modelling
- Data mining
- Data visualization tools
- Hadoop, SQL, Python and C#
- Data & business analysis
- Database management & reporting
- Business administration
- Microsoft Office and Excel
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Project manager
A project manager is a person who leads a dedicated project within a company.
He or she is solely responsible for every bit and piece of the project including tasks like planning, design, execution, and project closure.
In most of the cases, companies don’t prefer to hire a full-time project manager due to various constraints like budget issues, limited projects, startups, or any other business priorities.
However, this turns out to be an opportunity for various freelancers who are interested in freelance project management roles.
Skills
Here is the list of most essential skills that will make you ready for bidding out the best remote project management jobs:
- Project planning
- Documentation and reporting
- Multitasking
- Negotiation
- Business communication
- Scheduling and time management
- MS office
- Budgeting
- Analytical mind
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
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IIM Rohtak Certificate Programme In Project Management by Udemy
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Basics of Project Management by Manipal Pro Learn
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PMP EXAM PREP-Project Management Professional FULL TRAINING by Udemy
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Project Management Principles, Practices and Systems by Udemy
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Project Management by NPTEL by Udemy
Business analyst
Business Analytics is a smart way of optimizing the overall performance of a particular business or product with the help of data.
To filter and make the most of this data, most companies outsource the entire project to business analysts whose key role is to extract meaningful information from this raw data by deploying their statistical analysis and data mining skills.
A business analyst could work as a data analyst, financial analyst, supply chain analyst, website analytics, marketing analytics manager, or even a fraud analyst depending upon his or her area of interest, competencies, and experience.
Also, the opportunities for a business analyst are very broad and they are hired by almost every industry including banking, IT, and insurance.
Also, a lot of small and mid-size companies prefer to hire a remote BA depending upon their requirements and projects.
Skills
Learn and groom the below skills to quick-start your career as a virtual business analyst:
- Product management (tools like Jira, Trello, and Asana)
- Project management
- Analytical thinking
- Documentation and collaboration (tools like Confluence and DokuWiki)
- Data Modelling and knowledge of Unifying Modeling Language, charts, process, and network diagrams (tools like raw.io, Lucidchart, and Microsoft Visio)
- Data mining
- Data visualization
- MS Office, MS Excel, R programming
- Story Mapping
- Strategic thinking
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
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Foundations of strategic business analytics by Coursera
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Business Analytics Certification Training with Excel by Simplilearn
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Advanced Business Analytics with R by Manipal ProLearn
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Executive Development Program In Business Analytics And Big Data by IIM Kashipur
Data science
Machine learning engineer
A machine learning engineer uses data to train models using programming frameworks and big data tools to automate processes like image classification, speech recognition and market forecasting.
Even if you are working remotely, you would need to work in collaboration with data scientists and communicate the business insights to stakeholders.
Skills
To upskill yourself, you must learn about the advanced concepts of -
- Deep learning frameworks like TensorFlow or Keras
- Python and basic libraries for machine learning such as sci-kit-learn and pandas
- OpenCV and Linux
- Programming languages like XML, Javascript or ETL frameworks)
- ML Programming Languages such as C/C++, R, Python, and SQL databases
- Statistical methods and packages, Hadoop & MapReduce
- Application Programming Interfaces (API), data warehousing and business intelligence
- Database design, data mining, cleaning and munging, and data visualization
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Data engineer
A data engineer transforms data into a useful format for analysis.
You will be collaborating with data science teams and building the right solutions for them. As a data engineer, you must be pro at -
- Architecting distributed systems
- Creating reliable pipelines
- Combining data sources
- Architecting data stores
Apart from this, you should also have hands-on knowledge of data engineering tools like Hadoop and Spark and languages like Scala and Python.
Skills
You should also have a good command over:
- MapReduce
- Hive
- Pig
- Data streaming
- NoSQL
- SQL
- Programming
- DashDB
- MySQL
- MongoDB
- Cassandra
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Data science generalist
Data science generalists is someone who has broader data science and analytics skill sets and domains of expertise.
Companies often pose requirements for skilled data science generalists rather than specialists as the former have knowledge in many areas whereas a specialist knows a lot in one area.
Moreover, data science generalists have skills useful for solving real, practical problems.
Skills
To strengthen your position among the other data science generalists, you need to sharpen skills, including -
Data Architecture
- Cloud
- Serverless
- AWS vs Azure
Data Acquisition
- API development
- SQL
- Python/Java
Data cleaning & transformation
- Advanced SQL
- Python
- Automation
Modelling/Machine Learning
- Model development/training
- Model selection
Output delivery
- Web app
- Dashboard
- Application
End-User Experience
- Score/thresholds/Flags
- Look/Feel/Design
- Enjoyment
- Usability
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Infrastructure and security
Cyber security professional
Cyber security has gained prominence with a number of businesses moving online.
The market is witnessing an increased number of work from home jobs for certified cyber security professionals.
Cyber Security professionals are responsible to find discrepancies and weaknesses in databases, computer networks, hardware, firewalls, and encryption, while preventing attacks by ‘fixing’ potential security issues that may be exploited by malicious users and do ‘clean up’ after any cyberattack or security breach.
Skills
- Knowledge of Intrusion detection, powerful Trojans and backdoor codes
- Knowledge of cloud security and Black Hat techniques
- Working knowledge of Microsoft and Linux servers, Citrix and Microsoft Exchange, Cisco network switches and virtualization, among others
- Awareness of contemporary information security standards, practices, procedures and methodologies
- Expertise in malware analysis and Cryptography
- Basic understanding of programming languages such as C, C++, PHP, Perl, Java, and Shell
- Knowledge of Internet of things (IoT) security, network identity, and access management
- Knowledge of Database, Risk analysis and Risk mitigation
- Networking and programming logics
- Familiarity with various operating system e.g. Windows, Linux, Mac Os X
- Knowledge of microprocessor and assembly language
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Linux network engineer
Linux network engineers are technical professionals who work on how to configure Linux networking, create users, and assign permissions.
They provide maximum network, security, infrastructure, and performance to the end-users.
They build various types of virtual machines, including server VMs and Ubuntu desktop.
They are highly proficient with network connectivity such as data, voice, calls, videos, and wireless network services.
Skills
- Proficient at Linux based networking and open source networking applications
- Knowledge of networking equipment such as Arista, Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet, etc
- Understanding of OpenVPN and IPSEC VPNs
- Understanding of cloud infrastructure (AWS, Google)
- Knowledge of network protocols and services such as TCP/IP, DNS, and DHCP
- Troubleshooting skills of network functions like security, servers, and routing
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
DevOps engineer
DevOps engineers work as a link between the software developer and the operations team.
They work to enhance productivity and refine the process by providing better communication and collaboration between software development and operations.
It measures the overall performance of development and operations using APM (Application Performance Monitoring).
It contributes towards providing better results to the customers.
It is a blend of different virtualization tools and practices that improve an organization's ability to deliver products and services.
They use tools such as Docker, Ansible, and Github to help the development and operations team.
Skills
- Understanding of tools such as Docker, Ansible, Github
- Basic understanding of project life cycle
- Knowledge of deploying code and software architecture
- Proficient at application programming, system design, and database management
- Understanding of Linux commands
- knowledge about different operating systems and databases.
- knowledge of cloud services such as AWS and Azure
- Proficient at automation tools such as Jenkins, TeamCity
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Cloud engineer
A cloud engineer is an IT professional responsible for various duties that are associated with planning, designing, cloud computing, maintenance, and support.
There are multiple roles of a cloud engineer such as cloud security engineer, cloud systems engineer, cloud architect, cloud software engineer, and cloud network engineer.
Each role includes a specific type of cloud computing.
When a company hires a candidate as a cloud engineer, they will deploy the specific feature of cloud service and provide them a specific role.
Skills
- Knowledge of programming languages such as Java, C++, Python, etc
- Proficient at database skills
- Understanding of DevOps methodologies
- Knowledge of Linux/Unix platforms
- Basic understanding of Information security, Quality assurance, Cloud Computing
- Data integration and analysis skills
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Software engineering
Software engineer
Dependency on Software has become a common practice for most businesses and government bodies today.
To design and deliver robust software, software engineers play a major role.
They work on different measures to improve the software in terms of efficiency, accuracy, and usability.
They build software products, develop computer games, and run network control systems by using programming languages, databases, and other technologies.
The best part about this job is that one can also pursue this as a full time freelance career and work remotely.
Skills
- Knowledge of programming language (Java, Python, C#/.Net, Mean, Ruby)
- Ability for logical thinking and problem solving
- Understanding of the software development process
- Analyze customer’s requirement and implement it into design, test, and develop software
- knowledge of OOD concepts
- Proficient at automating software testing and debugging
- Knowledge of data structures and algorithms
- Basic understanding of SDLC (Software development life cycle)
- Knowledge of encryption and cryptography
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Backend engineer
Backend engineers are technical professionals who work on the framework and the structure of the system.
They build the core structure or web applications with the help of technical tools and programming language.
A backend engineer plays an important role in creating software and functioning of the tool.
They examine web applications, software and develop backend code, and work with the team to develop a better version.
Skills
- Basic understanding of programming languages such as Java, C++, Python, etc. and framework.
- Knowledge of front-end technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Proficient at server management such as Docker, Node.js, Kubernetes, Nginx, etc
- Knowledge of cloud servers such as Google Cloud, AWS, Microsoft Azure, etc
- Knowledge of security compliance and accessibility
- Understanding of version control, such as GIT
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Full-stack rails and react developer
A full-stack developer is an IT professional who works on technologies and processes that link between the platforms of frontend and a backend developer.
Reach developers work on the backend server and build an interactive part of the web with the help of different components that can be transferred to the server.
They are responsible for various tasks such as creating the web-based user interface, developing and monitoring frontend performance, work on application interface codes using JavaScript, and others.
Skills
- Knowledge of programming languages such as Java, Python, Ruby, .Net, etc
- Understanding of database and cache (MySQL, Oracle, MongoDB, SQLServer)
- Basic understanding of UI /UX design
- Knowledge of Servers such as Apache or Nginx servers
- Ability to work on API interfaces such as REST and SOAP services
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Ruby on rails developer
Ruby on Rails Developers are the IT professionals who work on web application framework to provide an efficient and simple to work on platforms and in conditions where instant maintenance of website development is required.
They are responsible for various duties such as for handling requests, HTML, JavaScript, managing databases, and CSS knowledge and work on required development tasks related to the RoR application.
Skills
- Knowledge of Web frontend architecture such as React, Bootstrap, GraphQL
- Understanding of web backend framework like Rails, Resque
- Basic knowledge of mobile frontend framework like React Native
- Knowledge of databases such as MySQL, LDAP, Redis, InfluxDB, ElasticSearch
- Proficient at tools like Scrum, Github, Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Git, etc
- Basic understanding programming languages such as Ruby, Python, Swift, Javascript
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Content, marketing and design
Freelance content writer and blogger
Content writing and freelancing are one of the trendiest jobs as businesses of all sizes need unique and engaging content.
Despite the fact that most of the large and semi-large size companies have a dedicated team of content marketers, but most of them like to outsource their content-related work.
Some of the common key responsibilities of freelance content writers and bloggers include timely deliveries of blogs, articles, video content, whitepapers, website content, infographics, etc.
Skills
For getting a well-paid freelance content writing project, you must excel in skills like:
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Basic SEO knowledge
- Copywriting
- Storytelling
- Research-oriented
- Journalism
- Multilingual or polyglot
- Clear fundamentals of marketing including targeting and segmenting
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
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The Strategy of Content Marketing by University of California, Davis at Coursera
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Think like an editor (content strategy and UX writing) at OpenClassrooms
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Advanced Content Marketing Certification Training by Simplilearn
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Blogging for Business by HubSpot Academy
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High Impact Writing Course by HubSpot Academy
UI/UX designer
UI/UX are mainstream now and there is no looking back for this arena of design.
UI/UX designers are primarily responsible for ensuring that the product logically flows from one-step to the next and checking how the outcome feels.
As a freelance UI/UX designer, you would need to work towards ensuring great user experience by defining interaction models, user task flows, and UI specifications.
You would also need to communicate scenarios, end-to-end experiences, interaction models, and screen designs to stakeholders on a regular basis.
You may have to deal with verbal and non-verbal obstacles while working remotely.
Skills
- UX research
- Wireframing and UI prototyping
- UX writing
- Visual communication to create assets, icons, presentations, interactive prototypes and mockups
- Interaction design
- Coding & Analytics
- Basic web design
- Animation
- Web development
- Web Page scripting
- Multimedia design
- Good working knowledge of web designer packages like Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and/or Flash
- Ability to create compliant XHTML and CSS
- Complete understanding of scripting languages like JavaScript, PHP and .NET
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Remote marketing consultants
A lot of companies, especially small, mid-size, and start-ups businesses prefer to outsource their marketing and branding to an independent marketing consultant who is specialized in implementing a comprehensive strategic marketing plan.
The reasons behind this could be many but most of these companies are not ready to invest in a full-fledged marketing agency due to monetary or safety issues.
Therefore, becoming a full-fledged remote marketing consultant can free you from 9-5 routine jobs and gain exposure to handling multiple companies’ marketing projects.
As a remote marketing consultant, you must be competent in offering services like advising companies to expand their consumer base, chalking out a lean marketing plan and budget, handle digital platforms, make data-driven decisions, design personalized customer communication messages, plan tactics to outperform competitors, etc.
Skills
For successfully delivering the above mentioned key responsibilities, you must enhance skills like:
- Marketing automation tools
- Communication and presentation skills
- Digital marketing and social media marketing
- Market research
- Brand positioning
- Strategy formulation
- Microsoft Dynamics 365
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
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Marketing Plan and Strategy - ZERO to HERO Overnight by Eduonix
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Marketing Analytics by Edx
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Brand Management by EDUCBA
Virtual assistants
The role of a virtual assistant is to assist companies with multiple administrative related tasks.
It could be anything from scheduling meetings to booking corporate travels and from performing market research to responding to client calls.
Depending upon the requirements, the roles and responsibilities 0f a VA could differ but the major reason to hire a virtual professional assistant or virtual administrative assistant is to ease the day to day non-core business activities.
Working as a remote assistant is among the most preferred work from home jobs and a great option for those who want to keep them away from direct corporate life.
Becoming a VA is not a very challenging job, all you need to do is organize yourself, gear up with the below-mentioned skills, and you are already walking on the roadmap of becoming a successful VA.
Skills
Some of the below-mentioned skills will help you re-orient as a productive VA:
- Organizational skills
- Tech-savvy
- Multitasking
- Communication skills
- Time management
- Trainable
- Collaboration
- Active listener
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
Social media manager
With the rise of social media users, social media marketing has turned out to one of the most popular digital marketing channels.
As a remote social media manager, you are responsible for handling one or more social media channels, execute paid campaigns, generate more engagements and leads, build and nurture communities, plan and execute conversion strategy, etc.
Almost a decade ago, this job profile was not very prominent, but ten years down the line, it has turned out to be a promising option and not ending anytime soon.
Skills
The below skills will help you outline a plan to become and grow as a social media marketer:
- SEO basics and fundamentals
- Customer segmentation
- Branding
- Content marketing and communication
- Copywriting skills
- Visual intelligence
Courses to help you gain the desired skills
The Parting Note
Work from home has now become a reality with this COVID-19 global pandemic.
Quickly, most of the companies will adopt to the new realm as a lot of them are in talks of shifting to a full fledged remote platform.
If this trend continues, more and more companies will seek professionals who can work remotely, without compromising on the quality and quantity of the work and sticking to the official work hours.
Thus, upskilling yourself and staying more market-relevant is at utmost priority for now.
All the best!
