Heraclitus, a greek philosopher, said “Change is the only constant in life". This holds true to the rapid advancements in technology as well. From the era of web 1.0 and now to web 3.0, technology has evolved at a rapid speed. In simple terms, the first iPhone was invented in 2007. Now, only a decade has passed and we have tremendously advanced to some sophisticated technology. Things have become more intelligent, more interactive, and better connected. I’m intrigued by the technology available at our hands, and the power that technology holds.
Having said that, we have almost made our way through the first quarter of 2017 and, like 2016, the demand for buzzing technologies – Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Cloud Migration are in trend and growing fast. For those who would want to shift careers into this industry, watch out these technologies and the companies interested in hiring for them.
1. Internet of Things (IoT)
The boom of IoT is not just limited to the commercial or industrial sectors, but it’s there in almost every household, schools, hospitals and other places. According to Gartner Inc., about 6.5billion connected things were in use, which is about 30% more than 2015.
The Internet of Things can be defined as the of physical objects with sensors which are linked through wired or wireless network. It could be FitBit, Amazon Echo Dot, NestCam etc. IoT is delivering value across industries like automotive, energy, healthcare, retail, agriculture etc. transforming lives. With so much to promise and rely on, this technology of intelligent apps is in great demand amongst techies. A lot of companies, such as Amazon, ARM, Bosch, IBM, Google, and Intel have ongoing IoT projects with millions invested in it. This surely makes the top of the list for future career investment.
2. Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Advanced Machine Learning
Though AI has been news for the past few decades, it has maintained its position as one of the most trending technologies for 2017 also. In simple terms, AI can be anything from a small computer program to voice-recognition systems. One of the subfields of AI is Machine Learning, which is an iterative method of data analysis using complex algorithms that extract information and knowledge from the machine’s data.
With cognitive and predictive data analysis techniques being the top technical skills in demand, most of the top-notch companies are entering the domain of data science. Google working developing photogenic memory, IBM working on Watson, Baidu working on accelerating mobile search with artificial intelligence etc. are the most innovative projects with these companies looking for skills like Machine learning, AI, R, Python, Hadoop, Data Integration so on and so forth.
3. Cloud Migration
To Cloud or not to Cloud has always been a debate amongst techies. With security always bumming up, cloud’s acceleration has been relatively slower than expected. But with companies like Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, HP moving from traditional business to cloud technology, trends have shifted the other way around. Cloud technology has increased the ‘as per demand’ scenario, thereby achieving cost-efficiency. Amazon’s AWS (Amazon Web Services) cloud computing is the delivery of computer power, database storage, applications, tools and other IT resources. AWS is one of the best in tech-industry. The cloud demands skills in migration – Azure, system center cloud computing technologies, database – Hadoop, MongoDB, Programming languages – Ruby, Python and Linux skills.
4. Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality
With the PokemonGo game, Oculus Rift, Google Daydream, and Sony Playstation VR – Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are technologies used by most of us. Though the technologies have been here for decades, the year 2016 was the year of breakthrough. The millions of PokemonGo downloads proved to be the most epic game of 2016 worldwide. Snapchat is another widely used application loved by users for creating and controlling the reality of their own. With so much around, AR and VR have a lot more to explore. These technologies have just picked up and a long way to go. 3-D , C, C++, graphics and game development are the skills for VR and AR. Companies like Google, Facebook, WorldViz, SNAP, HTC are investing into VR and AR projects.
5. Big Data
A term which has been in use since past decade, Big Data is a norm for every big company for now. Big Data is a term for large data sets which are complex enough to process through traditional software applications. Big Data is all about capturing, storing, and extracting value from data in all forms and sizes – structured or unstructured. The vast amount of data comes from all kinds of industries and domains – Healthcare, manufacturing, telecom, finance being the major domains. Every day, the world is creating about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data – tweets, photos, messages, emails, posts – everything! And with this vast amount of data, companies are investing . IBM, Google, Facebook, SAS have multiple projects utilizing the power of Big Data. Some of the key skills required for Big Data are MapReduce, Hadoop, ETL, R, SPSS, Parallel Programming etc.
Breakthrough in technologies will continue to trend and create new value every day. With promising future in the above technologies, 2017 is going to be an opportunistic year for them. Not only they’ll transform lives but they touchdown the way we see the world. These technologies are the future for techies surely!
