Top 5 emerging job roles in the Drone industry

Are you looking for job opportunities in the drone industry in India?

The drone sector is called the sunshine sector and is witnessing fast growth. With liberalized Drone rules, new advancements in technologies, government support, and a conducive ecosystem, the sector’s future is promising. The government is actively implementing various public initiatives to encourage the use of drones.

The growth opens a large number of job opportunities for aspirants with diverse skills and educational backgrounds. Till a couple of years ago, drones were mostly used for defence purposes. But a lot has changed in the past two years. The drone sector has something to offer everyone. Someone with a basic tenth standard qualification can get a job in the sector, and so can an engineer.  

Read the blog to learn about the top 5 emerging job roles in the Drone sector.

Drone Pilot

Drones are of various sizes and kinds. A nano drone can be as light as 250 g, whereas a large drone weighs over 150 kg. Currently, basic drone pilot training is being offered by several DGCA-approved training centres. It takes just five days to complete the training. 

As more industries and businesses use different kinds of drones as per their needs, pilot training will become more advanced. Many more training centers will come up and many industries may train pilots as per their requirements. As the number of training centers and the demand for drone pilot training increase, the cost of the training will come down significantly. 

Since the drone sector is witnessing good growth, it is a good idea to receive drone pilot training. The training will open opportunities in many sectors like tourism and entertainment, videography, surveillance, Agri-tech, etc. Experienced drone pilots can also become drone pilot trainers.

Data Analyst for Drone Systems

Drones have in them an inbuilt camera, like the one in a smartphone. The camera helps them capture videos or visual data. Some drones are equipped with other sensors to record details like temperature, soil quality, etc. 

The data is usually sent to the cloud. This data should be processed either manually or using the software. Currently, drones are not capable of interpreting data on their own. Hence, we need efficient data analysts to help us make sense of the data. The analysts analyze data to extract information from it. The type of data and the nature of the information varies according to the purpose behind using the drone. Different businesses and industries need different kinds of information. 

With more sectors starting to use and customize drones, data analysts will find many more jobs in the drone sector. Check our previous post on how to build a career in data science.

Software Engineers Building Drone-Related Software

Our country has a huge talent pool of software engineers. We also have many well-established Indian software companies. We have everything it takes to become experts in building software for drone systems and exporting them to other countries. 

As drones acquire additional abilities and find applications in new domains, more software systems should be built or customized according to the drone’s application. 

With the latest advancements in communication systems like the 5G network, drones can communicate with various systems, send data, receive instructions, etc. more efficiently. Soon, drones will acquire AI (Artificial Intelligence) abilities. They would analyze collected information and take appropriate action without any human intervention. Such advanced systems need the collective efforts of software engineers, testers, managers, as well as domain experts. 

With the rapid digitalization of various sectors, software engineers are in huge demand. They will be much needed in sectors related to drone technologies too. Engineers with cross-functional skills like aerospace engineering and software product development, experts in physics, applied physics, manufacturing, robotics, mechanical engineering, etc. can take jobs in the drone sector to contribute to its growth.

Data Entry Operators Feeding Drone Collected Data into Various Systems

Currently, data received by drones and their sensors are not being analyzed automatically. The collected data must be interpreted. Sometimes the data is enough to make human decisions. But sometimes it has to be fed into other technological systems for data interpretation, analysis, and for taking appropriate action. 

For example, weather and soil data collected by an agricultural drone can be fed into software designed to help the farmers determine the next action. Data entry operators collect the data and feed it into such software applications to retrieve needed outcomes. Since the data collected will grow manyfold with the wide usage of drones, many such data entry operators will be required.

The data entry jobs need just basic qualifications and knowledge of using a computer. These jobs are open even for non-graduates or graduates from non-engineering backgrounds. These jobs may be entry-level, but with experience, one can grow into a data analyst.

Design and Manufacturing Engineers, Assemblers 

The government has banned the import of drones. Drones are either manufactured in the country or assembled with various homegrown and imported components. To meet the increasing domestic demand for drones, many drone manufacturing and assembling companies have come up. 

As the demand for drones increases, these companies will expand and increase in number. We are likely to witness a huge number of openings in the drone manufacturing and assembling sector for mechanical engineers, designers, aerospace engineers, robotics experts, electronics and communication engineers, software engineers with knowledge of designing software, supervisors, managers, and personnel employed in manufacturing operations, quality control, and manual assemblers (where automation is not possible), etc.

Taking up a job in the drone sector is a new path to entering the aviation industry. The aviation industry has always been quite attractive and glamorous. The new opportunities in the drone sector are very large in number and have the potential to solve large-scale unemployment and brain drain. Moreover, the opportunities are for people with diverse skills and qualifications – engineers with various specializations, manual assemblers, freelance videographers, robotics system designers, drone pilots, etc.

Also read: Top 5 applications of drones in different industries in India https://nationalskillsnetwork.in/top-5-applications-of-drones-in-different-industries-in-india/

Many skilling and training opportunities will open in the sector to fill the job roles with knowledgeable and trained people. For more details on available skilling opportunities in the drone sector, please follow National Skills Network.