Programmers need to become full-stack players, says NIIT CEO

Indian techies will have to become full-stack programmers to take on emerging challenges, said NIIT Ltd CEO Sapnesh Lalla. “The days of a programmer specialising in one specific area is gone. You have to become a full-stack programmer and if you are not that, your skills are not likely to be relevant,” he said.

Lalla said more than 30% of IT professionals in India will find that their skills are irrelevant as the digital is making an impact across all businesses and digital transformation will go on for the next 10 to 20 years.

“It will transform every industry and every profession and it will do it at a pace which is more rapid than we have ever seen. The interesting thing is that people will embrace it, because it improves their lives,” he said.

To take on this challenge, NIIT has configured full-stack programming courses. “We don’t look at teaching cyber security, programming, teach integration and design separately. Business is looking at programmes that are secure and cannot be hacked. So far as we are concerned, NIIT looks at creating a person with holistic skills,” said Lalla.

He said skilling IT professionals in India is the need of the hour as their skills become relevant and their values in the market increase.

“For the longest time, India has been the leader for providing information technology services. I think to retain that leadership it is the responsibility of the industry, to ensure that the skills that they bring to the table are relevant,” he said.

Besides its global corporate business of helping companies achieve higher productivity, NIIT is engaged in career business which is operated predominantly in China, India, and a few parts of Southeast Asia and Africa.

He said the company is now present in more than 30 countries, and is expanding now in East Africa.