O’Reilly, a leading platform for technology and business learning, has released its 2025 Technology Trends Report, offering a detailed look at the key topics shaping the tech landscape. Based on insights from its 2.8 million users, the report provides valuable data for leaders to identify emerging trends and make informed decisions for the year ahead.
The report reveals a dramatic surge in demand for AI-related skills, with developers increasingly focusing on foundational and advanced AI concepts. Notable growth areas include:
• Prompt engineering: Usage increased by 456%.
• AI principles: Interest grew by 386%.
• Generative AI: Usage saw a 289% increase.
• GitHub Copilot: Content use skyrocketed by 471%, reflecting enthusiasm for productivity-enhancing AI tools.
Interestingly, content consumption related to GPT declined by 13%, suggesting that developers are prioritizing foundational skills and tools that enable versatility across AI models like Claude, Google Gemini, and Llama. Emerging technologies such as LangChain and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) are rapidly gaining traction, rivaling established AI libraries like PyTorch and Keras. These advancements signal a shift toward developing sophisticated, model-agnostic AI applications.
Security topics also saw notable growth, underscoring the increasing importance of robust governance and risk management strategies:
• Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) topics grew by 44%.
• Application security saw a 17% increase in interest.
• Zero trust security models experienced a 13% rise, highlighting a proactive approach to strict authentication and access control.
Security certifications remain highly sought after, with CISSP and CompTIA Security+ usage growing by 11% and 13%, respectively.
Other Key Trends
• Data Engineering: Interest grew by 29%, reflecting the essential role of data in powering AI applications.
• Programming Languages: While usage of Python and Java declined by 5.3% and 13%, respectively, Rust gained momentum with a 9.6% increase.
• Cloud Computing: Interest in major cloud providers plateaued, though Google Cloud certifications grew by 2.2%.
The O’Reilly report highlights the fast-evolving technology ecosystem, with AI skills taking center stage and security governance becoming a critical focus for organizations. These trends reflect broader shifts toward adaptable, secure, and innovative approaches to technology development.
The full Technology Trends for 2025 Report is available here.
Click here to read the original press release.
