Talent and Future Opportunities

Irvin talks about the ongoing debate on future of science and technology studies in developed countries. He wonders if the study of science and engineering will continue to lead to good, well paying careers, or whether such jobs will largely be outsourced to countries with lower labor costs, thus significantly depressing their wages in developed economies in order to remain competitive.

He gives an interesting observation on the likely changes which may see in the market requirement for technical talent in the days to come.

The marketplace requirements for technical talent are changing rapidly as technology permeates all aspects of business, society and our personal lives, and the Internet enables us to build globally integrated businesses, industries and economies.

As a result, high-wage jobs are growing in “market-facing” areas, i.e., the design of advanced systems and sophisticated applications in many industries, like government, health care, education and entertainment. These new jobs are much more collaborative, interdisciplinary and broad than in the past. They require solid technical competence, combined with industry, business and management knowledge as well as good communication and interpersonal skills.

I am also convinced that an interdisciplinary technical education will not just better prepare graduates for the market-facing positions where the vast majority of technical jobs are to be found, but will also help attract many young people to technical careers who today reject them because they perceive them to be too narrow, abstract and socially isolated.

Great observations, since the war for talent has already resulted in few major shifts in the job market for technical requirements.

Instead for Engineering background now many IT co's are already hiring BCA's,BSc's and even commerce graduates for supports projects in IT industry.

It has been observed that these recruits are highly successful on job and more keen to learn and prove there worth.

With huge demand for technical skills , ever growing competition and unreasonable expectations from employees, Co's are geared to train people on functional areas and involve them for technical projects.