Reinventing for the digital era

For many years, the digital realm was viewed as a shrine of recreational activities for Gen Y. Spending time on social networking sites or even being online was mostly about lazing away hours during leisure time. Fast forward, things are not the same now.

Digital world has become the mainstay and with the new normal that the pandemic has brought with it, digital platforms are here to stay. They are the source of news, education and earnings, and so imbibing the digital skills has gained significance like never before.

IT sector on growth mode

As per NASSCOM, an Indian non-governmental trade association, information technology (IT) is the only sector which has added jobs in the recent times. Hence, for an enduring career, it is imperative for every individual to develop IT skills.

So, parents and teachers want their children to be well aware of the ropes and tricks of the digital world. Today, it isn't just about a student trying to master one subject but also about having multitasking skills. No matter what the job role is, students will need to be well-versed in digital skills such as data literacy, data science, data engineering and have expertise in areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. With all operations and processes moving online, data has become the backbone of our workplaces and lives.

In fact, learning digital skills will not only aid students in adapting to the fast-evolving workplace but will also open up unexplored avenues. Gartner, a global research company, predicts that around 40% of infrastructure and operations teams in large enterprises will adopt AI-augmented automation for increased productivity by the year 2023. Also, 80% of enterprise IoT projects will include artificial intelligence in some form by the year 2022.

So, jobs in software and IT, digital marketing, and financial analysis are expected see a huge surge.

Courses in demand

With this increased focus on technology and digitalisation in employment, universities and other centres of higher education too are working towards offering courses that are more flexible and relevant to the current situation. Programmes such as cyber security, data science, communication and computer engineering are some areas of learning that are gaining pace.

Not just IT-related courses, the curriculum of all courses has seen a makeover with a thrust on technology usage. Even research scholars are taking up courses to learn using digital research tools as it is important to develop an aptitude for technology in this digitally-transformed world.

Now it is not only about students learning, but unlearning, and readjusting to situations.

(The author is a professor of Computer Science and Engineering)