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    What will be the skills required to survive in the IT industry in future?

    Synopsis

    Organizations have understood the importance of IT as an integral part of the infrastructure to thrive in the competitive market. But with rapid changes in the domain comes the demand for skilled talent to recognize the industry's needs and cultivate relevant skills.

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    The use of technology will be increasing in the future, and the requirements of skilled individuals will also experience a surge.
    With industrial revolution 4.0 on the horizon, every aspect of the business is undergoing a technological transformation. Information Technology (IT) has been a contributor to a myriad of changes for organizations in terms of operations, approaching a customer, digital solutions, and working methodologies.

    Organizations have understood the importance of IT as an integral part of the infrastructure to thrive in the competitive market. But with rapid changes in the domain comes the demand for skilled talent to recognize the industry's needs and cultivate relevant skills.

    As the World Economic Forum states, by 2025, machines will displace 80 million jobs and about 100 million jobs will be created in the IT industry with these new sets of skills. Therefore, individuals need to cultivate these skills to keep a sync with the industry requirements and expectations.

    IT skills: To thrive in competitive markets
    Companies are creating digital products with the help of IT for their consumers due to the increase in the use of the internet and mobile devices. To create these products, understanding the customer is a crucial task and then using information technology to cater to their needs is a special skill to attain. Initially, an individual must gain agility, critical thinking, analytical skills, and cognitive abilities as a part of soft skill development. However, for surviving in the industry Hard skills are also required. Therefore, an amalgamation of these skills will be necessary for the future of the IT industry. Listed below are some of the in-demand skills of this technology-driven era.

    Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
    Artificial Intelligence has widespread use in business such as streamlining operations and making faster decisions accurately. With a lot of data coming into the servers daily, there is a need to sort the data with only relevant information. AI, when used with a combination of machine learning, has the power to transform businesses as experienced by industrial experts. Apart from the IT industry, it is also changing Fintech, healthcare, banking, transportation and education sectors. With the increasing demand for the sub-fields such as deep learning and NLP (Natural Language Processing), individuals with the skillset of STEM will be able to fill in the position.

    Cloud Computing and development
    Due to the scalability, flexibility and durability of cloud technology, SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) is trending in the industries. The companies are keen to adapt to cloud technology due to its cost-effectiveness and PAYG (Pay as you Go) pricing model. With everything going on the cloud and its multiple service offerings make cloud development a unique skill to learn to enjoy a lucrative career with MNCs and cloud development organizations. In addition, the organizations are readily using GCP (cloud) and automated workflow development technologies to manage data pipelines, data integration and build process reliability.

    Full-stack Development and DevOps
    A full stack developer works on the client side and the server side making them one of the most demanded professionals in the IT industry. It requires versatile skills to be a full stack developer with knowledge in multiple domains such as database management, version control, and frontend with backend development. With expertise on diverse subjects make them crucial for the organization to solve technical issues while saving tons of cost. In addition, a parallel domain of DevOps is an essential skill to learn for individuals as they are responsible for increasing the productivity of the organization by developing tools and infrastructure, testing, maintaining, upgrading and deploying codes.

    Data Science and Analytics

    For increasing business scalability and improvise business operations, organizations require data scientists. They help collect valuable information and then analyze it to improve business performance with data-driven decisions. In the digitally transforming society, data is a vital factor for organizations to get insights into their customer’s needs. For interpreting the data in a measurable manner from the data pool, skilled individuals are needed in the industry. To get into this field of future, seekers should be skilled in the subjects such as mathematics, and statistics, eye for detail, and analytical approach to solving problems related to data.

    AR.VR & UX (Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and User Experience)
    As companies are indulging in developing Metaverse, AR and VR are crucial technologies. In addition, with omnichannel marketing rising, this can be used to connect with prospects on a personalized level. AR is being recognized by brands for the processes like brand establishment and recognition online. User experience (UX) has been a significant factor in engaging more customers, therefore it is the most demanding skill in the IT industry. When visual interactions with the prospect turn out to be a pleasing experience, it increases the chance of customer loyalty. Therefore, programmers skilled with UI/UX with knowledge of AR and VR are rising in the business demands.

    Blockchain Development
    A distributed ledger is a new technology for organizations and very few experts in the market. However, its use cases and ability to keep the data unique with high security is making it the most popular IT skill in the industry today. In addition, the demand for Cryptocurrency is on the rise at a global level as Grand view research forecasts the Blockchain market to be $ 1431.54 billion by 2030. Furthermore, a lot of applications have come forward to cater for the needs of the BFSI sector, making Blockchain development a demanding skill in the market.

    Future forward
    Gartner forecasted the global IT spending to be $4.4 trillion in 2022 with an increase of 4% from last year. Therefore, the use of technology will be increasing in the future, and the requirements of skilled individuals will also experience a surge. The above-stated skills are the most in demand for organizational development. Individuals must hone these skills to gain better opportunities in the market, and get future ready for diverse job domains in the IT industry.

    (The writer is Senior HR executive, Codestore)


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    ( Originally published on Aug 16, 2022 )
    (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.)
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