Top 3 technology trends for engineering jobs amid COVID-19 crisis

Covid-19 has impacted both business and aspiring professionals extensively.  And, the impact on the senior college students seeking to start their career in 2020 or 2021 seem to be the most affected.  These students have invested their life coming into a situation where they seek to evolve from a student to a professional and the weakening demand in the industry will have a lasting impact on them. 

Having said that, are there things these students can do to buck the generic trend of the industry and succeed in the current situation. For that, one needs to know what technology trends are going to be in demand in the current situation and work towards benefiting from the same. 

Where are the jobs opportunities for the recently graduating engineers amid COVID-19 crisis? With this question, we began to explore the need for relevant programming knowledge and skills the IT industry wants. Employability of engineers is definitely going to change post-COVID since the industry can absorb just about 25000 engineers in a year! Let’s look at the views expressed by our expert Mr. Sridhar K, Chief Business Officer, TalentSprint, in this Skill Talk.

Besides explaining the top 3 technology trends that are disrupting the job market, Mr. Sridhar speaks about the challenges in the future job scenario for recently graduating engineering students as the job market is going to be highly competitive. Below are a few excerpts from the insightful conversation.

Major technology trends that will be in demand 

Technology based careers are evolving and the future of engineering graduates are eventually changing. Engineers who don’t keep up with the major tech trends run the risk of being left behind. Understanding the key trends will allow engineering students to prepare and grab the opportunities.

The IT industry in India is the largest recruiter of the engineering students. However the recent COVID-19 crisis has impacted the IT industry as well as the economy of the entire nation and in fact the world. As a result, in the coming days many of the IT companies will either reduce the recruitment or announce recruitment freeze. We have to look for major technology trends for engineers from where the job opportunities are going to come and need to observe the areas that will have a decline since the number of jobs are likely to fall drastically in the next two to three years.

In the coming days the focus on automation is going to be extremely high. In this scenario most of the IT companies are keenly focusing towards automation as,

• Automation ensures cost effectiveness 
• Work from home doesn’t impact automation (since the safety and security issue, otherwise faced by people are not taken care through automation)

Since the focus of the entire job market will be on automation, there are three major technology trends which will be in demand in the coming future.

• Data Science and AI: Any college student who has built a credible qualifications and expertise in Data Science or AI/ML will be far more employable than the rest.
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Digital Process Automation (DPA): Platforms based on these technologies will get more popular among corporates.There are various RPA and DPA companies like Pegasystems which is a digital automation company. These companies will give preferences to those who can operate the RPA and DPA platforms. Platforms like Pegasystems, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism enable creation of robots what can make the process simpler and faster, with less human intervention. The person who can develop and operate the automation is going to be on demand!
• Multilanguage high end programming: Somebody who has a strong knowledge in multiple programming languages and can write high end top quality codes will be given the first priority.

In the past, an above average engineer could get a job in the IT industry, but very soon, only those with deep tech skills and programmers of high-quality will be preferred by the Industry as the number of jobs is expected to reduce drastically. Someone who is only good in Java or .Net will be finding it difficult to find a job in today’s market. Engineers need to build deep tech skills and will also be open to new trends like gig economy to start their career. 

Skills for engineering graduates to ensure employability 

Gone are those days when an average person with an average programming knowledge was able to get a job in the IT industry. Today’s competitive market requires highly skilled engineers. If an engineering graduate wants to be employable then he/ she must have the expertise in any of the three major trends.

The market is going to be much more competitive and the economic recession can’t be controlled by an individual. Only the person with strong programming skills, in at least five languages will be able to survive the economic slowdown. It is going to be difficult in the coming future. However, there is hope among the industry that the situation will get better and will see positive change happening in the future. Students must continuously learn and update their knowledge and skills, to ensure they are well-prepared:

• Technology adoption is going to be much faster as people should be ready to take up the opportunities. When future digitalization happens, students need to be keen on working on it. They should prepare themselves with the right skills.
• Students should make use of this lockdown period to learn any of the three major trends online from the comfort of their homes. 
• Students should focus on developing strong employability skills following the Aptitude, Communication and Technical skills (ACT) framework. There will always be a need for creativity, innovation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills

With advancements in technology, the landscape of skill requirement is also changing. Technology has changed the way students learn and pick up a skill. Online learning and e-learning have picked up rapidly in India, enabling the youth to upskill, reskill or to learn a new skill from the comfort of their homes. 

Related article: How TalentSprint is catering to consistent skill-based learning in the time of COVID-19 crisis  https://nationalskillsnetwork.in/consistent-skill-based-learning-by-talentsprint-in-the-time-of-crisis/

Many changes that happened during the COVID-19 situation are going to be permanent. Many traditional things are going to be obsolete giving way to faster technological advancement. Economy is slowing down however things will get back to normal. It will take some time for it to happen. Till then the students should focus on building their skill set. Latest technical skills which will be in demand will ensure their employability and protect their jobs during the economic recession.