Could you tell me on what data you are basing this argument on? I see this sentiment pop up in every related conversation but haven't seen the source of these claims. Could you help me out?
Hi I am seeing a lot of good resources in this thread already but I might have something to add. I am also learning Haskell at the moment, and the thing that really helped me push through it was this MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) by the university of Helsinki which is completely free and online available.
It's a structured, has a lot of excercises and so far (I am on Lecture 5 at the moment) very clear. It wont make you an expert, but will get you writing code quickly.
Honestly, the most important skill is to learn how to learn. There are some basics that will always be useful such as SQL or any of the popular high level programming languages. But in 10 years, the demands of whatever sector you want to work in will have changed in ways that we can only guess. But learning how you learn, what techniques help you stay focused are much more useful in the long term.
If you are serious on going into research, seek out (abstract) mathematics. It's a language in itself and (in my experience) takes the longest to become comfortable with.