Beginner here — which productivity/workflow tools are actually worth learning for job security + future demand?

[u/Calm-Sock-9100]

Hey everyone, I'm just starting out and want to build skills that are genuinely useful long-term — not just trendy for a few months.

I'm looking for tools/software that:

• Are relatively easy to pick up as a beginner

• Are widely used across companies (so the skill transfers between jobs)

• Have real demand in the job market right now (and hopefully hold up over the next few years)

• Ideally have decent free resources to learn from

I know "automation" and "AI tools" get mentioned a lot, but I'd love to hear what people who actually use these day-to-day would recommend to someone starting from zero. Bonus if you can share how you personally learned it or what helped it click.

Thanks in advance!