The IT Industry is seeing some turbulent times. Several layoffs were seen in the face of uncertain economic conditions and digital advertisers cutting back on spending amidst rising inflation, effecting consumer spending. Google, Microsoft, Amazon and other tech companies have laid off more than 70,000 employees in the last year. Beginning Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 35,000 job cuts have been in India-headquartered firms. World over, in 2022, 1,044 tech firms cut nearly 1.60 lakh jobs.
Current industry, irrespective of sector, is highly digitalised and hence the layoffs have affected almost everyone. Cars that drive themselves, machines that read X-rays, and algorithms that respond to customer-service inquiries are the new forms of automation. Even as workers interact with ever smarter machines, the demand for soft skills is beginning to surge. Consequently, many were forced to make mid-career choices.
The new in-demand skill sets include those in software development, robotics process automation, big data analytics and information technology security. Change needs time to internalise. Problem solving skills have to be reinvented in the light of innovative technologies taking over. Many of us have had to transit into monitoring dashboards, application programming interfaces and other web applications in new environments with very little knowhow.
A recent discussion paper of the McKinsey Global Institute says that automation will accelerate the shift in required workforce skills in the next 15 years. The Report estimates that 50% of current work activities can be technically automatable by adopting currently demonstrable technologies and that 6 out of 10 occupations have more than 30% of activities that are technically automatable. In the process, 30% or 800 million will be displaced due to adoption of automation by 2030. In addition of 2030 workforce of 2.66 billion, 8 to 9% will be in new occupations.
Everyone is concerned about the future impact of technology on their jobs resulting in anxiety. To make the transition less painful, signing up for reskilling and upskilling will be imperative. Enrolling for a foreign language, web development or coding courses will help. Ability to think rationally and act with reason adds to the resume. Technical translation is big business and a skill that earns money besides building new contacts.
An emerging market is the Gaming Industry, be it PC gaming, or Console Gaming or mobile gaming where, unlike movies, the plyer himself is the hero. The video games market in 2018 generated $135 billion, where mobile gaming outpaced revenue made by PC and Console Gaming. The video games market could become a $300 billion industry by 2025, with cloud gaming and 5G expansion.
Whatever skills one acquired five years back, doesn’t help today, with disparity between data science hiring standards today and those that will apply one or two years from now becoming bigger by the day. Python coding skills, full stack developers with expertise in both client and server software, in addition to mastering HTML and CSS, will be important.
The industry has been finding it most difficult to hire professionals in IT security, business intelligence, technology risk, cloud technology, and software and application development. Our universities must hand hold this difficult phase of digital transformation with access to micro credentials. The MSME’s too must invest in upskilling their existing workforce by collaborating with the universities. Unemployment rate that was 8.3% in December 2022 must come down.
Faculty and students must go beyond the three basic life skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. Cloud computing knowledge is the fourth life skill. Of course, the challenge remains on how to manage the digital push for the existing workforce, especially those that have a higher risk of lagging behind. It will be worthwhile for the government to create a career Job Board for providing cloud-related job opportunities.
One of the most difficult things is making a mid-career switch forced or otherwise. Those who did will know the pain all too well. It is extremely difficult to get that first job in the new industry let alone a mid-career switch. However, it is necessary not to discount the skills that are built over the course of a career because a lot of that is transferable. Learn, unlearn, reskill and upskill is the name of the game. Opportunities don’t happen, you create them. Let’s not be products of circumstances. Let’s be products of our decisions.