A recent survey has found that 9 out of 10 technology sector employees feel there is a huge gap between academic knowledge versus on ground skill requirement, highlighting the widening skill gap in Indian IT industry.
The Clover Academy Study is aimed at understanding the modern Indian IT Professional's academic experience Vs learning on the job, technologies/skill sets they are interested in vis-a-vis industry skill gap. The online survey was conducted among newly recruited Indian IT professionals, working across different domains in the technology sector. The survey focused on 3 major areas that pertained to professionals looking to acquire a particular skill set to excel in their careers and the industry they foresee will witness the maximum technological disruption. The finding of the survey has opened a new debate on the weightage of the current academic learning.
As per survey, out of all the new-age disruptive technologies, cloud services have topped the chart with 68% professionals choosing to invest/acquire this knowledge. Furthermore, banking sector will witness the maximum technology disruption followed by Ecommerce, Media and Entertainment & Insurance in the future.
Even a 2018 report titled–“Reskilling and Indian Workforce”, says that industries such as IT and software, banking, finance, e-commerce, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, media and entertainment, retail and manufacturing face an acute shortage of talent. With new-age technologies and digital transformation disrupting every industry, it becomes essential for professional to upskill themselves constantly. The apex body of Indian technology sector, NASSCOM has also introduced a platform, called FutureSkills, wherein they focus on skills development in eight varied technologies.
Sharing his thoughts on the survey, Kunal Nagarkatti, COO – Clover Infotech, said “Rapid digitalization across sectors has created a need for 360 degree skills development. In addition to technical skills, creativity, emotional intelligence, analytical abilities, project management and people skills are required to augment employability. Organizations will have to focus on training and development to help employees to reskill and upskill quickly. The future would take “convergence” to a different level and team members from diverse geographies will come together to undertake and complete projects seamlessly. In such an ultra-digital universe, communication and presentation skills would assume unprecedented significance”.
The survey clearly highlights that relevant qualification in a discipline is essential because it gives the basic understanding or lays the groundwork. However, capabilities need to be built overtime to perform a job. One needs to develop soft skills, job-specific technical skills, analytical and people skills to do well in any profession. Qualification is required to get into a profession, but capabilities need to be developed, enhanced and practiced in order to remain relevant in the industry.
