Professionals never stop learning, and for those in the technology sector, this is truer than ever.

With increased pressure to manage exorbitant amounts of data, deliver reliable connectivity and tackle increasing security threats, technology professions and skills are becoming more in demand across all major enterprises. Likewise, as LinkedIn research recently found, tech employees themselves increasingly feel empowered to tackle new challenges and advance their individual career goals.

As part of LinkedIn’s Week of Learning, we are celebrating the tech perspective on LinkedIn Learning’s Top Skills of 2016 — a ranking of the most coveted skills employers look for in today’s job candidates. It will likely come as no surprise that technology-based expertise pervades this year’s list, so we’ve rounded up a few key insights for marketers from the 2016 results.

Top Skills Inform Powerful Tech Buyer Personas

Tech’s broad thirst for knowledge should inform the type of content you create as a marketer and influence your brand’s marketing strategy across multiple touchpoints. For example, understanding the learning behaviors and top skills of ITDMs can help you craft content that speaks to the pressures and demands placed on these professionals as they build their careers and make business decisions. This understanding also enables you to craft more relevant, personalized experiences for tech buyers by tapping into valuable nuances which could sway their purchase path.

Join Your Customer’s Education Journey

Professional tech audiences are using LinkedIn more than ever before to explore job information, search, share, and post content. Now, they’re also using LinkedIn to enhance their knowledge base and skill sets via LinkedIn Learning. This makes LinkedIn an even more powerful marketing tool — enabling you to derive insights and intelligence about tech decision makers by simultaneously embarking on their customer education journey. Eager to get started? These are the Learning Paths and instructional courses deemed most popular by the millions of technology professionals on LinkedIn.

• Technology Learning Paths: “Become a Network Administrator,” “Become an IT Security Specialist,” “Fundamentals of Cloud Data Storage”
• Cloud and Distributed Computing Courses: “Amazon Web Services: Enterprise Security,” “Plan a Microsoft Cloud Solution” and “Google Cloud Platform Essential Training”
• Storage Systems and Management Courses: “Database Fundamentals: Storage,” “Fundamentals of Cloud Data Storage,” “Amazon Web Services Data Storage”
• Middleware and Integration Software Courses:  “Java Database Integration with JDBC,” “Microsoft Azure: Security Concepts,” “Introduction to Transact-SQL”
• Network and Information Security Courses: “Ethical Hacking: Social Engineering,” “Foundations of IT Security: Network Security,” “CompTIA Security: Network Security”

By being in tune with what your audience wants to learn, you can better understand and connect with the diverse tech audiences throughout the buying cycle. Many of the courses on LinkedIn Learning provide valuable intel into what your key audience is learning and doing. It’s time for you to follow along and hone your tech marketing arsenal of skills!

Uncover Unique Insights

Another reason the LinkedIn Learning platform is a hidden gem for marketers is the audience data it provides, in aggregate, for each learning asset. For example, explicit titles of key technology and business decision makers responsible for influencing tech purchase decisions that are taking LinkedIn Learning courses include: Founder, Technology Manager, IT System Administrator and Executive Director, IT Consultant, Software Developer, User Experience Designer, Project Manager, Business Intelligence Consultant, Information Security Specialist, Marketing Specialist and Online Marketing Manager. These are all titles to consider when selecting campaign targeting parameters — and their diversity reflects the importance of marketing to many potential members of the tech buying committee.

We hope you explore LinkedIn Learning and dive into the 5,000+ courses available this week to help make you a smarter marketer — for FREE. LinkedIn Learning is the continued evolution of our mission and our continued investment in the evolution of you.