If you are reading this right now chances are you own a computer, you might even be on it right now. Whether for work or just for fun I'd take a bet you use it pretty often. An underrated computer skill is being able to type quickly and efficiently, and if you want to do this you need to learn how to touch type. Yes, yes I know you are super fast already you don't need to touch type, but stick and poke can only get you so far. The ceiling of speed with touch typing leading to increased productivity and efficiency makes it an essential skill in the modern world.
By definition touch typing is the ability to type using muscle memory without having to look at the keyboard. Increasing speed, accuracy, efficiency and consistency, you can learn it in less than a month at no cost. While you may be slower at the beginning it won't take long to surpass your current typing speed.
One of the biggest hidden benefits of touch typing is increased creativity. Think about this, the closer and faster you are to getting a computer to do exactly what you are thinking the more you can let your ideas flow. Bridging the gap between what you're trying to do in your head and what you are actually doing can help you flow as you work.
QWERTY is by far the most popular keyboard, we have been stuck with it for a while and it's not going anywhere. But is it the best? Well obviously it's main advantage is its popularity. Learning to touch type on it means you can use any computer you come across and lots of features such as shortcuts have all been based around it. Unfortunately it is not the most ergonomic with just 30% of presses on the home row and words often being typed with just one hand. Some other layouts you may want to consider include; NEO, optimized for German users; it moves the most used keys to the center row and columns with a focus on special characters. DVORAK is extremely ergonomic with 70% of its presses on the home row and it aims to have most words typed using both hands. However this does make shortcuts harder to get to. Colemak is an updated version of QWERTY with an optimized layout that keeps the shortcut keys. Workman is built for a staggered keyboard as it tries to make the most use out of each finger. Finally Halmak is an AI generated layout that reduces finger travel through hand movement analysis and has a symmetrical layout to even out finger usage.
There are plenty of free online tools that will teach you how to touch type. Start by spending just 10 minutes on a new lesson each day and soon you will be able to make the switch to touch typing everyday. I would recommend typingclub although you should also check out typing.com, monkeytype and keybr.