IT cos riding new wave of demand

Digital Workplace

- Hiring picking up pace

- Technology space is getting more productised

- With work from home practice in place, cos migrating to Cloud technology

- Business firms are developing apps as their digital interfaces and it's creating more demand for full-stack developers

- Remote work culture is alerting cos on cyber security

Bengaluru: The work environment after lifting the Covid-induced lockdown, has been creating more demand for software engineers with new skill sets as more enterprises going digital in their bid to reach targeted consumers.

Cloud technologists, full-stack developers, cybersecurity professionals, and professionals with expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) are in high demand as of now as these are considered as the hot skills in the post-pandemic world, said human resources professionals.

"More enterprises are migrating to cloud amid the ongoing pandemic. So, cloud architects, cloud engineers, and cloud administrators, which are combinedly called cloud technologists are in the most sought-after skill sets as of now. Also, with majority people working from home and enterprises operating remotely, the need for cybersecurity professionals has also risen," said Aditya Narayan Mishra, CEO of CIEL HR Services.

"The technology space is getting more productised with most businesses are developing apps as their digital interfaces. Therefore, demand for full stack developers is high, which is going to further rise in the coming years. Apart from it, as AI-powered applications find their roots in every sector, professionals with such skills are highly sought after," Mishra added.

The Covid pandemic has forced businesses across the globe to go digital for operating remotely. This has led to migration to the cloud at a faster pace with a larger emphasis on the development of apps. Faster adoption of edtech, medtech, retailtech, agtech, and many more by consumers have supplemented this trend.

"Enterprises are moving from legacy to emerging technologies. And the emerging technologies are shifting towards customised applications. This is an obvious evolution. Cross-industry evolution is also happening. So, the skill sets like full stack developer, Natural Language Processing (NLP) are the hot skills now as productisation is happening at a rapid pace," said Supaul Chanda, vice-president of Experis, Manpower Group's IT staffing company.

"Hiring has picked up in the digital workplace, cloud, digital transformation area, cybersecurity, app development space in the IT industry. As far as the preparedness of fresh graduates is concerned, our curriculum has been oriented that way. But we have to accept that technology is changing very fast," said Chanda.

HR professionals are also of the opinions that even demand for augumented reality, virtual reality (AR/VR), which is called mixed reality now, has been very high. "Most edtech and esports companies are coming up with apps that have a huge component of mixed reality. Therefore, this is going to be another hot skill in the post Covid world," said Mishra of CIEL HR Services. On the hiring uptick, HR professionals said that it has picked up from November last year and is likely to sustain as more businesses go digital in coming years. "A lot of re-skilling is happening across the IT industry. People with certain skill sets are being retrained in emerging technologies. As there is a definitive surge in R&D projects due to the pandemic, hiring momentum remains strong," said Chanda of Experis.