Arjun Nair, Co-founder of Great Learning

As India celebrates Engineer’s Day today, we have witnessed the role of engineers evolve over the years. Technological advancements have made it the need of the hour for engineers to be skilled in digital domains like data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, and cloud computing to achieve successful career progression. Every year tens of millions of young graduates from colleges and freshers across the country enter the workforce. However, according to the India Skills Report, more than half of BTech graduates lack relevant skills owing to the lack of infusion of digital skills in the curriculum.

With growing digitization in every business, organizations are increasingly looking out to hire skilled talent to retain their competitive advantage. It becomes essential to reinforce that young engineers and professionals should regularly train themselves in digital skills and leadership qualities that will help them to power ahead in the fast-changing ecosystem. Earning a professional certification in these domains will not only enable them to gain cutting-edge skills but will also validate their high level of expertise to their employers. It will further help them to become more competent, in turn increasing their chances of getting employed. Here are the top five trending professional programs to make engineers job-ready.

1. Full Stack Developer

Banks and insurance firms today are trying to be in line with the digital transformation, becoming virtual enterprises that will help customers transact with ease and convenience. They’re trying to find developers who are skilled in all parts of a site/application so that they can work on both the front and back ends of a website. Stack overflow 2020 developer survey shows that there is a significant percentage of individuals who have updated themselves in the domain of full-stack. A full-stack developer brings together skills and roles of both web designers and web developers. Since the web grew to be more complex, customers are now seeking more complex solutions, making both the roles so specialized and technical that they get inter-linked, leading to the emergence of the full-stack web developer.

2. Product Management

Product management teams are the voice of the market inside the company. A product manager guides the company on how to invest its limited resources to deliver competitive products that are in line with market needs and then works with other teams to better enable them to help the company reach business goals. The role of a product manager is an interesting and integral part of the organization. It’s researching, reviewing, and communicating to provide what the customer needs. There are various industries and companies today that are demanding product managers create strategies and roadmaps for developing products that have a high degree of success. Amazon, PayTM, Myntra, Microsoft and Uber are top-hiring companies for product managers.

3. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Learning 

Machine learning engineers are in the highest demand, with machine learning being a crucial aspect of all automation tools. Brandon Purell, the Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, said that “one hundred percent of any company’s future success depends on adopting machine learning. From voice assistants that power smart speakers to high-tech coffee pots, these technologies are quickly becoming the mainstay of life. This evolution has led to a rise in machine learning and AI jobs. Machine learning concepts like computer vision have opened doors to several of today’s most enjoyable career opportunities for forward-thinking technology professionals. Artificial Intelligence gives the capability to computers to perform some tasks that require human intelligence. Machine Learning and Deep learning are core topics an individual needs to master in order to implement solutions in Artificial Intelligence. Every field in this domain offers lucrative career opportunities, and in fact, many believe that this is the technology of the future.

4. Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is one of the most pursued domains by students and working professionals because several enterprises and SMBs are adopting the concepts of cloud computing in their organizations. As a result, the number of vacancies for a skilled and certified cloud computing professional is on a significant uprise. Top HRs and recruiters are looking for professionals who have certifications in cloud computing because they need the potential to become an asset for the respective organization. They possess all the required skills in cloud computing that help them stand out from the competition among their competitors. All major industries including healthcare, finance, education, manufacturing, automotive, sea and space exploration, robotics, and others have all moved significant processing to the cloud. This creates opportunities for engineers to enter all these fields.

5. Cybersecurity

With the digital advancements, it is equally important that the data is to be secured effectively. Cybersecurity is one of the fastest-growing career opportunities. Cybersecurity jobs are in high demand, and it does not seem like the need for more security professionals is reducing in the foreseeable future. Blockchain Developer, Ethical Hacker, Network Engineer, Cyber Security Consultant are all roles that fall under Cyber Security. Also, companies are investing huge amounts of money for security but still, many end up losing their important data online. The demand for Cyber Security is high, but the people skilled in this domain are only a few.

With a huge demand for tech-based roles in the industry, there’s a massive opportunity for engineers to tap lucrative opportunities by acquiring career-critical skills. Edtech platforms are at the forefront of this change by offering online degree and professional certification programs in proficiencies like analytics, machine learning, and cloud computing to make them future-ready.

Also Read:Engineer’s day 2021: engineers who changed the world