Prateek Shukla is the Co-Founder & CEO of Masai School – India’s first coding school. He started Masai School in June 2019 with an aim to revamp the Indian education system from a degree-based to a skill set-based system, having identified the need-gap for industry-relevant skill sets, rather than a college degree to ensure that the new working class is job ready from Day 1. Hailing from the pink city of India – Jaipur, Prateek is a B.Tech graduate from IIT Kanpur, specialized in Materials Science and Engineering. He has been in the start-up industry since 2013, having founded Grabhouse, just after his graduation.
A recent survey by Mckinsey found that post-COVID-19, the adoption of digital technologies has catapulted by several years. There has been a steady rise in the adoption of technology across businesses and sectors, leading to the creation of new job roles and the demand for a digitally skilled workforce. This transformation is slowly changing the global value chain and the geography of jobs. Organizations today are adopting various learning and development (L&D) programs to enable their workforce with a competitive edge, and abreast with the necessary changes while ensuring recovery from the pandemic.
Research shows that 50% of the 4 million employees of the IT industry will need to be reskilled over the next 3 years, and by 2030, approximately 375 million workers would have had to switch occupations or acquire new skills because of automation and artificial intelligence. Professionals and aspirants alike are today taking to upskilling programs, in order to stay relevant according to the changing industry demands. With businesses rapidly shifting from a traditional model to a tech or digitally-driven model, this has resulted in many traditional jobs either being replaced or evolving into something new. The pandemic has made everyone realise that technology is no more a choice, and rather a necessity. Here are some of the job roles which will see demand in the days ahead:
Data Analysts and Data Scientists: With more and more data being captured in order to drive insights and better decisions in organisations, the need for data analysts and data science engineers is also increasing. Professionals who can manage and determine insights from data that will help guide business operations and strategy will be in demand.
Software Developers: A software developer is responsible for creating, testing and integrating a software system for a company from scratch. This ranges from internal applications to external platforms for customers. With businesses today evolving digitally, the need for a software developer is evident and is bound to stay relevant for a very long time.
Cross-platform Developers: Digitisation has led to the implementation and creation of various tech-based solutions across organisations, be it mobile or web based. The need for these applications has led to the rise of cross-platforms software development, opening up new opportunities for web developers across platforms like Android and iOS.
DevOps engineers: A DevOps engineer plays a vital role in the software development life cycle, along with having the capability of multitasking thereby being an efficient resource for an organisation. With rapid digitisation, IT companies are bound to be dependent on DevOps engineers, making it one of the most in-demand job roles in the days ahead.
Cloud Architect: Cloud technology is today an integral part of business operations, especially after the wide adoption of remote working. A cloud architect is responsible for a company’s cloud computing strategy which includes the planning, application, monitoring and management of all cloud applications. With organisations implementing cloud technology at various levels of the business, the ongoing demand for cloud architects is bound to continue.
Digital skills today are the need of the hour, be it for technology or non-tech professionals or students. For young graduates, picking up digital skills which are beyond the regular academic curriculum is the go-to method to build a compelling job profile. Additionally, with new age technologies opening new career opportunities today, several non-tech graduates are looking at making a career shift owing to the growth potential offered by the tech sector. That said, developing skills of the future to stay in sync with technological developments is a given if one wants to excel and grow in the technology industry.