O'Reilly Offers Insights on Tech Trends 2025

January 2025

In Brief

O’Reilly has released findings of its annual Technology Trends for 2025 report, offering insights into the most popular technology topics consumed among its 2.8 million users. The report analyzes platform usage to uncover which technology tools are gaining traction and which are losing relevance, empowering organizational leaders to stay informed and identify emerging trends that could influence their business decisions in the year ahead.
The 2025 report revealed a dynamic landscape of developer learning, with AI technologies driving the most significant shifts. Interest in related skills surged dramatically, with the most pronounced usage increases seen in topics like prompt engineering (456% increase), AI principles (386% increase), and generative AI (289% increase). Notably, use of content about GitHub Copilot soared by an impressive 471%, reflecting developers’ enthusiasm for tools that enhance productivity.

The report is based on the use of O’Reilly’s online learning platform from January 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024. Year-over-year comparisons are based on the same period in 2023. The main growth areas identified in the report for information technologies are artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

It includes insights on the following:

Web programming
IT operations and certifications
Cloud and cloud certifications
Security and security certifications

Specific forms of generative artificial intelligence that the report includes are GPT4, Claude, Gemini and Meta's Llama.

Opening Quote on Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI gets better and better—but that trend may be at an end. Now the ball is in the application developers’ court: Where, when, and how will AI be integrated into the applications we build and use every day? And if AI replaces the developers, who will be left to do the integration? Our data shows how our users are reacting to changes in the industry: Which skills do they need to brush up on? Which do they need to add? What do they need to know to do their day-to-day work? In short: Where have we been in the past year, and where are we going?

Specific Points on Artificial Intelligence

The next wave of AI development will be building agents: software that can plan and execute complex actions.
There seems to be less interest in learning about programming languages, Rust being a significant exception. Is that because our users are willing to let AI “learn” the details of languages and libraries for them? That might be a career mistake.
Security is finally being taken seriously. CEOs are tired of being in the news for the wrong reasons. AI tools are starting to take the load off of security specialists, helping them to get out of “firefighting” mode.
“The cloud” has reached saturation, at least as a skill our users are studying. We don’t see a surge in “repatriation,” though there is a constant ebb and flow of data and applications to and from cloud providers.
Professional development is very much of interest to our users. Specifically, they’re focused on being better communicators and leading engineering teams.

On Prompt Engineering

Prompt Engineering, which gained 456% from 2023 to 2024, stands out. A 456% gain isn’t as surprising as it seems; after all, people only started talking about prompt engineering in 2023. Although “prompt engineering” was bandied about as a buzzword, it didn’t become a skill that employers were looking for until late in 2023, if that. That may be an early warning signal for AI disillusionment. Searches for “prompt engineering” grew sharply in 2023 but appeared to decline slightly in 2024. Is that noise or signal? If disillusionment in Prompt Engineering sets in, we’ll also see declines in higher-level topics like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
There’s a different take on the future of prompt engineering. There have been a number of arguments that the need for prompt engi‐ neering is temporary. As generative AI improves, this line of reason‐ ing contends, we will no longer need to write complex prompts that specify exactly what we want the AI to do and how to do it

On Software Architecture

Usage of material about Software Architecture rose 5.5% from 2023 to 2024, a small but significant increase. But it’s more important to ask why it increased. A position in software architecture may be perceived as more secure in a time of layoffs, and it’s often perceived as another step forward in a career that moves from junior programmer to senior to lead. In addition, the rise of AI presents many architectural challenges: Do we try to build our own model? (The answer is usually “no.”) Should we use an AI service provider like OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, or Google, or should we fine-tune and host our own model on our own infrastructure? How do we build appli‐ cations that are safe (and how do we define “safe”)? How do we eval‐ uate performance? These questions all have a bearing on software architecture. Furthermore, AI might provide tools to help software architects, but so far, these tools can do little for the substance of the job: understanding customers’ needs and helping them define what they want to build. With AI in the picture, we’re all building new kinds of applications—and those applications require architects to help design them.

From the O'Reilly Announcement

“This year marks a pivotal transition in technology, with AI evolving from generative capabilities to a transformative force reshaping how developers approach their craft,” said Mike Loukides, vice president of emerging technology content at O’Reilly and the report’s author. “As foundational skills gain prominence and organizations increasingly adopt comprehensive security practices, professionals must prioritize upskilling to effectively integrate these tools into their operations. The future is not about fearing AI’s impact on jobs but in harnessing its potential to enhance productivity and drive innovation across industries.”

To read the full Technology Trends for 2025 report, please visit: https://ae.oreilly.com/OReilly_Technology_Trends_for_2025.