By Narayan Mahadevan
A new year brings a new outlook, and as emerging technologies penetrate the professional landscape, it can open up gates of employment for a number of new roles, especially for programmers. The technologies that were instrumental in shaping employability in 2019 will continue to dominate in 2020 as well:
AI and ML: These two advancements formed the base for most companies looking to implement and/or enhance their tech capabilities. According to a Gartner survey, AI and ML have created 1.4 million job opportunities for programmers.
Blockchain: Just like AI and ML, blockchain is also becoming an important part of industries, with widespread application in logistics, healthcare, digital payments, gaming, manufacturing.
Cybersecurity: According to a recent workforce development survey, 50% of participating firms have positions open for cybersecurity teams, and a global shortfall of 1.5 million people is expected by 2020. There is a rising demand, from freshers to C-suite executives, in the space. In 2020, the roles expected to be in demand are cybersecurity analysts, security architects, chief information security officers and cybersecurity managers.
Data science: As companies are dealing with ever-growing pools of complex data, there is a need for professionals to support the same. IBM has revealed that the yearly demand for data scientists, data developers and data engineers is likely to result in the creation of 700,000 openings by 2020, with a 28% increase in demand for data scientists alone. IT employees must also keep a note of the following:
- Cloud-based tech skills will have a high demand;
- Large enterprises and non-tech will also clamour for tech talent;
- There is likely to be higher focus on productive talent with relevant skills, over certified talent;
- There will be increasing participation of women programmers in tech.
Jobs in the tech space are not restricted to developing and coding, these are now branching out to the gaming industry as well. Game designing and developing is an area that is growing at a rapid pace, and is estimated to be worth $120 billion globally. This industry is opening up software developer jobs in Mumbai, Bengaluru and other major cities of the country.
(The author is co-founder, BridgeLabz. Views are personal)
