If the IT job market in India was thought to be thriving until now, it is all set to blossom in the near future. The next 12-14 months – the year 2020 and 2021 will see the rise of jobs in Big Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). They will unleash the biggest tech revolution since the dot.com bubble that gave a new lease of life to jobs to the Indian tech job market.
The fact that the IT job market is poised for further breakthroughs is a double-edged sword for applicants. On the one hand, everyone with desirable IT credentials can hope to get hired. On the other hand, IT jobs in India are set to take a turn towards handling of data – interpretation, manipulation, maintenance, and pattern recognition centered around large datasets – and this requires those who are not skilled in these areas to reassess their objectives, re-learn, upskill, and regroup their skill-set.
Reports estimate that there will be a deficit of as many as 2 lakh (two hundred thousand) jobs by 2021, predicting that the available talent pool is likely to fall short by a considerable margin. While this is good news for the fresh graduates who leave college campuses with all the right qualifications – knowledge and hands-on experience with Big Data, Data Analytics, Data Science, Hadoop, and Artificial Intelligence, and a host of Data Management credentials – the flip side is the middle-level developers with experience in older tools and reluctance to learn the new ones. Back-end development takes the cake among the IT jobs in India with skills such as MongoDB, MySQL, and Node.js growing at a scampering pace.
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IT jobs in India are increasingly in demand for tool knowledge Artificial Intelligence, Javascript, and Blockchain Development. The global trend of greater need for Automation, Cognitive Technologies, Natural Language Processing, and Pattern Recognition are behind this trend in India. The heartening part for the young IT workforce in India is that, according to Prerna Sindwani’s article on ‘These are the top 15 emerging jobs in India, according to LinkedIn’ Indian developers are among the three most sought-after for jobs in AI. For instance, roles in the lines of ‘Robotic Process Automation Consultant’ are already trending IT jobs in India and are set to grow even further in the coming two years.
The IT job market is such a significant revenue generator for the Indian economy and is a worthwhile talent pool for employers in India and abroad because of the widespread computer literacy and bilingual ability, followed by competence in a host of programing languages and tech tools. In the wake of the shift towards Data Science and Data Management courses, professionals in the range of experience of 10-20 years who have built their strengths in other areas of software development and programing stand to lose if they are not ready to jump on the bandwagon.
Even as the gap in the demand for newer tech skills widens in comparison with existing ones, there is a tangible growth in demand for ‘soft skills’ among engineers and software programers too. There was a time when a coder only needed to produce code for myriad requirements. Today’s trends in the IT job market call for an ability to learn, unlearn and relearn as necessary. If ‘change’ was ever a feature in India’s job market, it has taken on even greater permanence now, with novel technologies and fancy tools being tested out for adaptability into the business scenario.
Consequently, employers in IT sector jobs in India look for adaptable, dynamic contributors in their turn. Fixation with a single tool or inability to work in a fast-paced, changeful environment spells doom for professionals in the IT job market in India. Also, cost concerns about hiring experienced workers who have not reinvented themselves in keeping with the times drives India Inc. to go for younger hires, in the range of fresh graduates to those with less than 5 years of experience.
IT jobs in India continue to be the largest employer through the turn of the decade and are set to keep up the trend while growing from strength to strength. IT jobs such as development, testing, security and network, systems and analyst jobs are applicable to various other sectors in addition to the IT sector jobs in India. Some of the most common users are manufacturing, healthcare, banking, and retail sectors in which software packages, support for the various products, and continual R & D are the norm.
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When the trend is such that multifarious applications have ever-changing, exceedingly complicated demands, employers look to hire professionals who can keep with these demands. The IT job market in India, therefore, needs more capable, competent professionals to join the workforce and get ready to work and learn on the job.
For those who are keen on reaping the rewards offered by the IT job market, the path is pretty straightforward. Although the bulk of the talent is sourced from the urban locales of metropolises and prominent state capitals, even the tier-II cities now stake a strong claim for teeming professional talent.
There is a clear indicator of progress towards Data Management jobs for professionals who are high on the adaptability of not only skill-sets but also environments and working styles. In order to compete with the workforce consisting of freelancers and consultants, part-timers, and telecommuting workers, professionals of today need to spend time understanding how to deliver optimum results under tight constraints. This dynamic ability once cultivated can aid in the growth and emergence of a stronger, more authentic IT job market for the country.
Homegrown MNCs like Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, and Infosys continue to inspire re-learning and upskilling. For instance, TCS now boasts of a workforce that is 80-90% enterprise-Agile. With IT jobs in India moving closer to the global trend, the overall environment of development and growth for the corporate scenario in India is set to take a turn for the better.
References:
- IT job market ‘changing’, employers looking for ‘adaptability’: Livemint, Survey, 22 Oct 2019
- Prerna Sindwani, These are the top 15 emerging jobs in India, according to LinkedIn…. Business Insider, DEC 10, 2019
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