A common saying in India is, “one becomes an engineer first, and then decides to pursue one’s likings.” Indian parents typically think the world begins and ends with engineering or medicine. This thought is so deep-rooted among the old-school parents that they have missed the big picture of what a dynamic and a fast changing world demands from the current generation.

Much water has flowed since the days when engineering was considered as the most lucrative and safest profession, more so in the last few years since new age technologies like cloud computing, cybersecurity, IoT, Artificial Intelligence began to bob their heads – a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Today these are seen as more lucrative roles and have attracted graduates from other streams as well. The downside is that there is a shortage of manpower, especially in the realm of cybersecurity. Organizations too are looking at graduates from other streams and encouraging them to learn these newer skills.

One question is at the forefront– is it easy or difficult for non-IT professionals to learn these skills?

An IT professional requires some fundamental skills like analytical thinking, logical approach, assessment skills, a creative and problem-solving mindset, technical knowledge, and understanding of systems.

While a non-IT professional may possess some above-mentioned skills, it is especially important for an IT person to have in-depth technical and systems knowledge of the various IT domains like hardware, operating software, telecommunication, databases, networking, application systems, information security, data privacy, data warehousing, and artificial intelligence,, along with soft skills like organizing ability, good communication skills, project management skills, and inter-personal skills.

The key is not a technical background, but willingness and desire to learn how technology works and to never stop learning. In many cases, a non-IT person can pick up technical skills over time and effort through training, certification, and hands-on experience. Hands-on experience does not necessarily need to come from a paid job; there are others way of getting the experience by volunteering to work with experts in the domain areas.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on career shifts:
During this pandemic, various levels of lockdown have been implemented across the world, which has led to industry and education moving to the digital space and career discussions needing to completely revolve around understanding the change in industries and upskilling to stay relevant.

The most frequent questions have been – “what can I do FOR myself?” and “what can I do BY myself?” resulting in an explosion of three main skill areas: 1. Creativity, 2. Entrepreneurship, and 3. Digitization.

The idea behind it is this – if you have a skill or a talent, hone it and use a business mind to market and explore it. The COVID-19 era has brought about a monumental shift in understanding the importance of skills and building a breed of young, individual businesses in the SME space. The employment market globally has always been linked to skill-based, technical education leading to work readiness. India has also caught up quite rapidly. So really, the Post – COVID-19 Era or the “What Next?” Era will unfurl a myriad of opportunities based on education background and immediate learnings in the past. The focus has shifted from careers to skills which have the portability to apply to any industry or independent work as required, including:

• Creativity – including art and design thinking skills
• Digital Technologies – including software and app development
• Digital Marketing – including SEO and social media marketing
• Research
• Computers – from a base level user requirement to advanced coding, graphics, and animation.

Specifically with the pandemic, remote-working arrangements are on the increase and demand for specific IT skills like the following has grown multifold:

• Cybersecurity
• Cloud computing
• Data analytics and data science
• Networking and wireless
• Software development
• AI and machine learning
• Project management
• Programming
• IT service management
• Virtualization
• Data Privacy

Online certifications to the aid:
The IT online certifications courses provide the depth and knowledge for those who want to shift from other faculties. Some of these online courses also provide testing labs which help students to gain on-the-job, practical experience by implementing what they have learned and obtaining and analyzing the results, including through the recently introduced Information Technology Certified Associate (ITCA) certification by ISACA with global recognition. These kinds of online courses provide new professionals with confidence and help them to garner the career shift smoothly.

The online certification courses can be cheaper when compared to the onsite training courses, as well as flexible and allow for learning what one needs in ramp up skills and knowledge. While it is imperative that one has relevant experience to make a career shift, the online courses provide an additional gateway that enables someone to undertake the career shift.

Industries and organizations that have been built over the years are going to continue to exist (assuming they can adapt to new environments), but their personnel requirements have changed. It is significantly important to make sure that as we progress in 2021, personnel need to bag some of the above skills to stay relevant and get a head start in the post-Covid-19 era.