People in the IT profession are not seeing the light of the sun shine upon them, as it used to over the last decade. Some IT giants in recent times have announced layoff, of close to 2% of its workforce.
IT profession falling under the low skilled IT and BPO positions, are entering a grim future, with the possibility of their jobs becoming redundant by as early as 2020. Most of these low skilled IT jobs will be lost to automation support and back office support. The high skilled jobs can be considered as secured for the time being, however they will need to add value to their roles by upgrading their skill sets.
It’s the age of digital disruption, while it is true that with automation, there will indeed be a creation of new job roles and responsibilities. However, the growth is predicted at about 14%, it will still take the net hit of about 4.8 lakh job losses over the next years.
And the final nail on the coffin was the US immigration rules getting more stringent and averting level1, low skilled IT roles like software engineers, from giving them the H1B visas.
All of the above has proven a potential loss of opportunities for IT professionals.
So what do the software engineers and network admins do to sustain in the job market? Simple, have a plan B in place, do not let the sword swing close to you, avert it by venturing out of your comfort zone and adopting a new valuable skill, that will in time make you valuable, change and upscale to survive.
You need to make yourself relevant to the changing demand rather than being stuck with the traditional roles. A recent study on WEF predicts there will be a high demand in processing data analytics, cloud computing, mobile internet and IOT (internet of things). These sectors will see an exponential growth in the global market, thus giving a rise of employment in these areas in the coming years.
Being an IT professional you might have sufficient technical experience, along with other skills, so your comfort and literacy with technology is here to stay, it is all about how you squeeze your way into relevant roles.
Riding on the wave of big data analytics is a safe bet. A specific field that is generating more buzz these days is Machine Learning.
The good news is, if you plan to make a career in Machine Learning, the prerequisite is to have a research background along with software engineering skills, computer science fundamentals, and programming. One can enrol themselves for data analytics certifications and courses that help in gaining clarity on probability and statistics, data modelling and valuation techniques, and understanding of machine learning algorithms and their applications.
At the end of the day, a machine learning’s deliverable is software. You need to be able to fit the small pieces in the large scheme of events. And a software engineering best practices are invaluable for productivity, collaboration and sustainability.
The global markets are definitely changing, and the demand for machine learning is exponentially on a rise. So If you are a software engineer, now is the time to adapt this skill and develop a mind set to succeed.
