Java is the 21st century COBOL, a must have for all offshore developers. Stay away from it. Learn Python/Ruby and Django or Rails. They will keep you way ahead on the productivity curve. If you are doing web development, learn the full stack, html and js all the way through to SQL. If not the web, find something interesting and dig deep into it. Think about what is not out there. Don't do social networking or mobile games, they are too crowded. Enterprise solutions, however, have barely been tapped.<p>The biggest skill is networking and not just with HN types. A socially active SO who collects people is a wonderful person to have, better than a VC. Who you know is better than what you know.
Same as always -- a grounding in fundamentals, strong experience with a couple choice technologies that aren't too out of date, at least vague familiarity with the new new thing, and the ability to assimilate the new new thing quickly when you need to (probably implied by the previous points).<p>EDIT: oh, and business smarts wouldn't hurt.
Multi-disciplinary.<p>This goes not just for hackers, but any type of engineer. Companies are increasingly looking for people who are not just distinguished in one area, but have multiple areas of expertise. Thus the hacker in the year 2019 (crazy!) will not just have to be good at programming, but knowledgeable about many domains.<p>How can you best apply a given skill set to new problems?
Can you use lessons learned in other disciplines to address looming challenges in the current project?
In the last 10 years, did you become any better at predicting trends and customer needs?
As always, demand for developers will be greatest in those markets experiencing the most vigorous growth. Much of the growth in the past decade has been in new markets for advertising and online stuff "as a service".<p>This will probably continue for another decade or two until the next "big thing", which is anybody's guess. Beyond that my bet is that applications involving robotics, AI and nanotech will start to become mainstream.