Digital Transformation: New-age tech skills see rise in demand

As businesses digitise their processes, the demand for IT professionals is expected to rise further in 2022. Organisations are also willing to pay top dollar for employees who have expertise in cutting–edge fields like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing. Candidates with multiple skills are also in demand.

Skilled IT Jobseekers to score big bucks
Trak.in reported in April 2021 that IT key leader like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro plan to hire > 75,000 fresh graduates on campus in FY22.

Mr. Sudhakar Balakrishnan, Group CEO, FirstMeridian Business Services stated that the overall on average wages for those with new age skills have increased by 30-40%.

According to data from Naukri.com, the growth in digital transformation resulted in a 53% increase in demand for IT-Software professionals in FY21.

Rising new-age skills
Mr. Vijay Sivaram, CEO, Quess IT Staffing stated that > 80% of organisations believe that digital transformation is a strategic necessity due to social distancing and stay-at-home norms catalysing collaboration and commerce online. He further stated that due to the increase in demand for digital and technology, the new must-have skill sets have evolved.

As per Quess data, between October 2020 and March 2021, demand for new–age skills increased by 166% in the IT security segment, 110% in full stack, and 80% in android developers. Demand for data analytics has increased by 44.7%.

According to Accenture India, the company would be looking for in-demand skills in areas including digital, cloud, security, data, and AI, as well as platform and other core skills. The sector where the company would be recruiting include life sciences, consumer goods & services and financial services and technical specialists in marketing, finance & accounting, procurement, and supply chain management.

According to Mr. Sivaram of Quess, the digital transformation phase is driving even the services sector to recruit digitally-skilled talent to develop and implement digital systems. BFSI, technology services and consulting, and auto and engineering all witnessed a 22.5% increase in demand for qualified professionals.

Key profiles to attract higher wages
Top-tier IT firms attract the best employees by offering generous pay packages, bonuses, and other benefits.

Hiring in the IT industry is at an all-time high, with applicants receiving outrageous offers and promotions around the board.

Some of the most promising digital skills in high demand in 2021 include DevOps, cloud engineers, full stack developer, big data, internet of things, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, cybersecurity, cloud computing, digital transformation and automation. According to Mr. Yeshab Giri, Director of Randstad India, these skillsets are attracting 50-70% pay increases.

Infosys plans to announce the next round of wage increases in July 2021. The firm plans to raise salaries for the second time in six months, with the first hike taking effect on January 1, 2021. This indicates the company’s improved business and consequent attrition rates.

Hiring at its peak
Mr. Ravish Agrawal, co-founder and CEO, Able Jobs said, “start-ups prefer to hire on a contract, freelance basis, or offer internships. We have seen a spike in demands for people to work for 3-6 months with the promise of being promoted to full-time based on their results.” IT leaders continue to expand their workforces. TCS stated that it plans to employ 40,000 people in FY22, while Infosys stated that it plans to hire 26,000 or even more. TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Tech Mahindra are expected to hire more than one lakh people in FY22, according to analysts.