IT Manager here. You'll probably get a hundred different answers to this as it sincerely depends on the industry.

I currently see a lot of need for the following in SLED (State, Local, Education), but again, this is just one of many industries:

Python, SQL, PL/SQL, RUST, automation (ansible/chef/puppet), powershell, cyber security related and cloud related stuff.

Don't forget Kubernetes and containerization - literally can't hire enough people with solid container orchestration experence right now, and the salaries are insane.

As a DevOps manager who regularly talks with development about hiring/architecting, and works at a Fortune 500. Here’s our short list:

• kubernetes/containers (like deep knowledge, not just “I ran helm once”)
• CI/CD, and IaC + GitOps
• golang/rust/dotNet… modern statically typed and compiled languages are greatly preferable. Python/bash/PHP is clutch, but it’s also easy to pick up if you know the above, and honestly I kinda just assume it at this point.
• actual complete understanding of Git.
• solid full stack development experience/understanding
• cloud experience (AWS or Azure mostly, but GCP is close enough)
• thinking/problem solving skills

Honestly, I’ve seen so many people with AI experience of some sort, it’s not a difference maker. It’s fairly easy to learn and no Fortune 500 is hosting their own LLM unless that’s the point of the business. If you actually understand the stack and how things relate, it’s huge.

A big part of hiring is understanding what the person knows and how well they know it to know if they can apply their wisdom to other things. You know some day AI is going to burst, something better than Blockchain will happen, Rust or Golang will be superseded, a new cloud provider will appear, etc. I need to know you can apply your understanding and knowledge to some new challenges using tools that aren’t even concepts now.

AI is devaluing other skills.

I got an email today, from my own company, telling me I wouldn't have to renew my professional certification for 2 years if I passed an unrelated test on AI.

The "test" was 10 questions. Glad to know my professional certification is equivalent to a 10 question pop quiz on AI.