Code your way to the future: Coding, the need of the hour and a skill for life
While coding is not new to the industry, it has been extensively unveiling a hybrid approach in the placement sector due to the rapid technological advancements. It’s time to revisit the career roadmap and take a look at the dynamism the sector is offering contemporarily.
The journey of programming has come a long way since the discovery of Simula, the first-ever project-oriented programming language in 1965 by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard. In today’s time, coding has not only become the need of the hour but a skill for life. There are many career paths as a developer, engineer and programmer. Before you start on your path figure out the segment you want to work in, what languages are most useful and of course start learning. Coding skills could be valuable to people working with information technology (IT), data analytics, design, marketing, business, engineering and science, to mention a few.
Coding has become so central to businesses across all sectors that the next generation will view it as an essential skill in order to keep up with the new developments. A recent Indeed.com study says that 2020’s most in-demand skill is coding. This rapid transformation has made digital skills especially relevant, increasing demand for jobs in data, design, and development. According to Upwork, freelance C++ programmers earn $55 an hour, SQL database developers earn $54 an hour, Python developers earn $53 an hour, and C developers earn $52 an hour.
According to the TIOBE Index for September 2020, the top three most popular languages are currently C, Java and Python. LinkedIn’s Emerging Jobs Report states that Data Scientist roles have increased by 650% in the last decade and, according to one estimate, demand for data science skills is projected to increase by 37% year over year. Data analytics can be considered a more entry-level field than data science, with endless opportunities for growth. IBM predicted that the number of jobs for data professionals in the US alone would grow by another 364,000 (to nearly 3 million) before the end of 2020.
The World Economic Forum’s Jobs of Tomorrow report predicts– cloud, engineering and data clusters, among the fastest-growing technologies overall. It will further require disruptive tech skills like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, or cloud computing. Because technologies like AI are so pervasive, many roles in areas like sales and marketing will require a basic understanding of AI. These reflect the adoption of new technologies—giving rise to greater demand for Green Economy jobs, roles at the forefront of the Data and AI economy as well as new roles in Engineering, Cloud Computing, and Product Development.
An education in computer science gives you a foundation that you can take with you in a range of different careers and be sure to get a reliable job. The metrics and statistics can surely help us predict the ongoing trends, draw a comparison with the past and help us extract the right skills that are future relevant. However, we remain as the ultimate stakeholders to observe, decide and act upon the data and shape our future that fits in the idea of tomorrow.
(The author is Ankush Singla, Co-Founder of Coding Ninjas & Ninjas Junior. Views expressed are personal.)
