World Youth Skills Day: Skilling,Up-skilling an integral part growth agenda say industry experts

As per the Indian Telecom Market 2022-23 Report by Telecom Sector Skill Council, in the past year, the demand is over 1 lakh in roles in of 5G, Cloud Computing, AI & Big Data Analytics, IoT, Mobile App-Development and Robotic Process Automation, the demand supply gap is almost 28% and increasing.

In an effort to improve socio-economic conditions, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in December 2014, designating July 15 as World Youth Skills Day. The resolution recognized the strategic value of providing young with skills necessary for employment, entrepreneurship for today's youth as a means of addressing the problem of underemployment and unemployment.

One of the initiatives that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has constantly placed prime focus on is making Digital India initiative a success. He is seen highlighting the significance of Digital India every now and then.

In one his addresses , the PM mentioned that 5G will benefit the economy by 450 billion dollars over the next 15 years. The kind of skilling, re-skilling, and and up-skilling required for such fast-moving, tech-age is gigantic and constantly increasing. The demand and supply gap of skilled manpower today counts up-to nearly 28% according to a Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC) report.

Across the country, the technology sector has been growing at an unprecedented rate. With an influx of new-age technologies coming into the limelight and driving this growth, it has presented today’s workforce with a huge opportunity to grow in tandem. Up-skilling has hence become an important part of the growth agenda for both employers and employees.

On World Youth Skills Day, here’s what leaders from across the technology sector have to say:

Arvind Bali, CEO, Telecom Sector Skill Council

The advent of new-age emerging technologies has created a huge demand-supply gap in the technical talent in the country. Our current youth talent has an utmost potential and it is essential that we harness this, through skilling/upskilling/reskilling them, given how these technologies are changing the landscapes across every sector. As per the Indian Telecom Market 2022-23 Report by Telecom Sector Skill Council, in the past year, the demand is over 1 lakh in roles in of 5G, Cloud Computing, AI & Big Data Analytics, IoT, Mobile App-Development and Robotic Process Automation, the demand supply gap is almost 28% and increasing. 5G technology industry experienced a demand-supply gap of about of about 33.6% and this will continue to grow as the possible timeline for rollout of 5G network reaches its final stage. The government has been focusing on the skill empowerment of our growing youth population, to make them job ready and it is for sure that the gap here will narrow down in times to come.

Vikram Kumar, Co-Founder, MyTat

The demand for skillsets across new-age technology domains such as AI, ML, Metaverse, IoT, etc., continues to increase. In this VUCA-World, the need for skilling, re-skilling, and upskilling has become a need of the hour. Looking at the dynamic and rapidly changing technology environment today majority of India's workforce will have to continuously bridge skill gaps to be a part of the new-age workforce. It is pivotal for youngsters to realize that technology is not just an enabler but, learning additional skills and new capabilities will help them stay relevant and in demand in the future of work.

 Protima Achaya, India HR Head & APAC Talent Acquisition at NetApp

Despite the fact that there is a high demand for digitally driven businesses, there is a shortage of qualified individuals that can meet these requirements. If we take cloud computing as an example, a study by NASSCOM shows that India is thought to have a requirement of about two million jobs by 2025, but there are only roughly six lakh competent workers in this field. Today, nearly all meaningful consumer applications and services are cloud-based, prompting the need to upskill the workforce in this area as well as allied fields such as devops, big data, cloud native apps, etc.

In a world where skills, particularly those related to technology are so dynamic, the youth need to possess an in-depth knowledge of their specialisation, as well as fundamentals of other disciplines to be competitive in the cut-throat job market. Skills such as artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, cloud fundamentals, real systems thinking, understanding of platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) will continue to see a strong demand from employers, and will define the upskilling journey of our young workforce. 

Lakshmi Mittra, VP and Head, Clover Academy

With the pandemic introducing all of us to the new normal, digital became the way of life. New-age technologies such as Cloud, AI, RPA and Big data facilitated the creation of a seamless virtual work environment. However, if the talent is not skilled enough to function in such an environment, then it can derail organizations’ digital transformation plans. According to a new Gartner study, businesses consider talent shortage as the biggest barrier to adoption of new technologies.

One way to overcome the prevailing skills shortage in the IT industry is by promoting the upskilling and reskilling of employees. Employees need to be provided with avenues such as ‘short term skilling programs’ for them to enhance their skillsets along with their current job role. 

Ratnadeep Ray, VP & Head of HR India, Druva

Today, organisations are expecting their workforce to have a well-rounded portfolio that showcases innovative thinking, a challenger mindset, digital skills  and an overall business logic. With the changing scenario, it becomes vital for organisations to train and upskill their talents to become an expert in their domain to reduce dependency on the market to fill these critical roles. On the occasion of World Youth Skills Day, it is important for organisations to take the first step in bridging the skill gap in India through focused upskilling programs to meet the growing demand of skilled professionals in the country.