In an interaction with BW Businessworld, Ketan Kapoor, co-founder and CEO of Mettl, online talent management firm, highlights the factors for the downfall of the IT sector and inspects the situation, talking about the skills in demand. (Edited Excerpts)

What can be done to revive the IT sector?

Between the rapid rise of automation and Indian tech service companies, new jobs continue to be created, although at a slightly slower pace. These new jobs, however, require higher skills and therefore, reskilling is crucial to the industry. With net hiring in the industry continuing, it is on its way to createnearly three million jobs by 2025, according to Nasscom.

Tech employees need to pick up new skills related to the automation domain as these new technologies have a rapidly growing market across the world. Companies also need to integrate reskilling into their learning and development program in order to equip employees with newer skills and prepare them for greater job roles.

Is there a need to bridge the gap between Industry demands and supply of professionals?

Yes definitely. The gap in the academic curriculum and the industry requirements has been the biggest issue for the IT/ITeS industry in India. The lack of hands-on experience among IT professionals is a major reason for the slow growth in the sector. A viable solution to this problem is that companies must ensure that new hires are the right fit for the organization’s needs and possess the required technical skills to fulfill a specific job role. Companies can conduct certification and training programs to equip new hires with relevant skills and make sure they meet their true potential from the first day itself.

In addition to clearing the gap out, we should keenly observe the universities across the expanse of our country to renew and revamp their instructional courses according to the growing need. Peeling away from age-old techniques of teaching and analysing, these premier institutions should start with making cloud-based assessments as their primal target because they are being adopted across the world in giving better feedback to prospective candidates and students.

What can help the IT sector revive its glory days? 

IT industry has seen several changes in technology and has reinvented itself every time. In the process, engineers learned new code to realign their skills with the industrial developments and achieve professional growth. However, in the more recent past, technology has undergone tectonic shifts, bringing down the sector growth to single digits.

Tech companies today want IT professionals to be well-versed with technology like machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things. In order to keep up with these evolving market needs, IT companies need to adopt a more practice-centric approach to training employees. Moreover, while traditional IT services will continue to be in demand, companies need to focus on providing assessment services which are data-driven and competency mapped digital technology services. 

What skills can help a graduate get a job?

The rapidly evolving IT sector demands a range of skills from professional to meet the ever-increasing demand for digital services. Knowledge of data science and analytics, Angular JS, React JS, Java, Ruby, Python, Scala are among the top skills in demand at present. In addition, new-age technological tools such as machine learning, IoT, AR, and VR are in huge demand as digital services companies as well as equipment manufacturers look to tap into the younger consumerdemographic segments. Professionals can acquire greater conceptual knowledge and more practical experience with access to coding simulators, and to equip themselves with the right skills and stay ahead in the job market.

How to make technology more relevant to bridge the skill gap among different professionals?

Within an organisation, technology can be effectively leveraged to identify the skill gaps, make appropriate training recommendations, and provide regular feedback to employees through AI-based tools. Graduates and professionals can train or up-skill themselves with certification programs on online training platforms. These platforms can work with job portals and corporate recruitment agencies and networks to find the right talent with the relevant skills.

Should graduates look forward to other sectors for employment? 

IT is relevant across all industries, be it banking, healthcare or any other service sector. IoT, for instance, will bridge the gap between different verticals, creating an environment of greater interconnectivity among sectors with IT and digital technology being the common link.

IoT has huge potential for job creation and most of these will be generated by start-ups which have created solutions in diagnostics, sports wearable, etc. The IoT space is booming in India with about 65 percent of Indian start-ups working on it. The government is also looking at ways to lay out regulations for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. Once that happens, the sector will truly take off, and job opportunities will follow for those who have the necessary technical knowledge and practical skills.