Rewarding careers in the EdTech sector

In the times of the pandemic and even before that, the trajectory of EdTech's growth has been simply unparalleled, and this has opened a number of career opportunities in the sector.

While e-commerce took several years to gain traction, EdTech rose to prominence almost overnight, with 2020 being the tipping point for the industry as a whole.

The sector has attracted investments worth more than $2.2 billion and continues to dominate headlines.

As compared to 2019, the EdTech user base in 2020 had doubled from 45 million to 90 million across K-12 and post K-12 sectors.

The average time spent is up by 50%, from 60 to 90 minutes. Another notable development is that there's an 83% increase in the number of paid users.

With this, the EdTech ecosystem is expected to grow more than three times in size over the next five years. By 2025, EdTech in India is expected to be valued at more than USD 10 billion.

EdTech has emerged as a growth powerhouse, supporting the economy through investments and new jobs. EdTech's role has become invaluable at a time when traditional learning centres have become out of bounds due to the pandemic.

For job seekers, EdTech could be one of the safest and highly rewarding career opportunities. Most EdTech players are currently on a hiring spree. A number of job opportunities are available in the EdTech industry, some of which are described below.

Content creator

This job requires the candidate to create and update the curriculum and content, as per the requirement of the course. The candidate should have the appropriate academic background and be able to keep abreast with change in the syllabus. Curriculum designers and content creators work in collaboration with subject experts to create the most appropriate learning aids for students. It could include everything from audio/video content to presentations, quizzes, e-books, images, and multimedia stories.

Technical architect

EdTech players are scaling up fast, which necessitates expansion and upgrade of the online learning ecosystem. With a rising number of users and teachers, the online platform needs to be robust and available 24/7. There is currently an increased demand for building scalable online platforms. The preferred candidates for this job are senior-level software engineering professionals with more than 10 years of experience.

App developer

With the mobile screen emerging as one of the preferred modes of learning, there's an increased demand for app developers. The ‘classroom in your pocket’ approach and adding gamification has been made possible with mobile apps. These can be accessed anywhere, which is a true asset for students.

Academic consultant

These professionals function as a bridge between students and the right teachers. An academic consultant assesses the requirement of the students, their learning style, language preferences, etc., to find the most appropriate teacher. This job requires a mix of academic knowledge as well as sales & marketing skills.

Course manager

Course managers also help teachers in navigating the digital learning ecosystem. With course managers, even teachers who do not have the required proficiency in using digital assets can come on board in a productive manner. By allowing teachers to focus on teaching, course managers significantly enhance the student learning experience.

Future outlook

EdTech's growth will be sustainable even after the pandemic, as the level of personalisation it offers to learners is simply unparalleled. The benefit of 'anytime anywhere' access and option to learn at one's own pace would be difficult to achieve in a conventional setup.

However, challenges remain. For example, while urban centres have taken to online learning in a big way, the progress is not the same in semi-urban and rural areas of the country. EdTech players need to step up focus on these geographies to boost growth.

They also need to ensure that the quality of online education is not diluted due to ever-increasing competition in this space. The EdTech industry will have to continuously innovate and collaborate with stakeholders as well as policymakers to optimise learning in the digital realm.

(The author is the co-founder and CEO of an EdTech startup)