Ahmed Sherif
Research expert covering IT services and gaming hardware
Tech reskilling revolution
The year 2020 marked a significant turning point for the adoption of digital technologies by companies, with many businesses shifting to remote workforces. This has set digital transformation on a skyrocketing path for the coming years, with spending forecast to reach approximately 3.4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2026. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was the key driver that accelerated this growth, although other factors, such as market competition, new market entrants, and customer demand, have also played a role.
More than half of reskilled workers from other sectors usually took on jobs as IT technicians, while 36 percent moved to careers in cloud computing. Such changes are evidence that people recognize, understand, and adapt to the skill demands set by the tech industry. However, IT decision-makers anticipated that by 2025 the main gaps in tech skills were going to remain similar to those seen in 2022, except for artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented reality and virtual reality skills, for which the talent pool would be the most scarce by that year.
Reskilling and upskilling are essential to competitiveness
Such rapid technological advancements outpaced the human factor and overwhelmed the tech workforce, which is now in need of updated digital skills. Reskilling and upskilling are the two most important processes that can enable companies to find new tech talent while remaining competitive. The difference between the two concepts is in the purpose of the training. In the tech sector, for example, upskilling is directed towards teaching a new set of skills to individuals who are already working in the industry to optimize their performance, whereas reskilling is the process of training people with a new set of skills in order to perform a completely different job.Skills are the new currency for the job market
Whether because of the career opportunities, the competitive market, promising salaries, or the feeling of being one step ahead, the tech industry has always been appealing to people regardless of their education and professional background. In 2022, the majority of people who transitioned to tech firms came from the administration and business support sector. Additionally, 13 percent of individuals reskilled from the healthcare sector, while ten percent joined from the military industry. This shows that tech companies across the world are working and investing in broadening their talent pool by drawing skilled individuals from a multitude of market segments.More than half of reskilled workers from other sectors usually took on jobs as IT technicians, while 36 percent moved to careers in cloud computing. Such changes are evidence that people recognize, understand, and adapt to the skill demands set by the tech industry. However, IT decision-makers anticipated that by 2025 the main gaps in tech skills were going to remain similar to those seen in 2022, except for artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented reality and virtual reality skills, for which the talent pool would be the most scarce by that year.
Companies must develop a culture of continuous learning
Tech reskilling gives companies the opportunity to reinforce their work environment both culturally and educationally when it comes to finding and retaining talent. Companies’ reluctance to invest in the training of entry-level employees is an aspect that has been overlooked for a long time. Some of the most important reasons concerning the shortage of cybersecurity staff were that organizations did not invest enough resources into training non-security IT staff to become security staff. Therefore, in order to build a technology reskilling strategy, companies must rethink the sources of untapped talent by investing and prioritizing staff training, accepting candidates without post-secondary degrees, and by granting promotions. According to the 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey, 34 percent of IT-decision makers stated that their company was already running programs to reskill workers from completely different industries. Other important drivers for reskilling and upskilling efforts worldwide included developing retention strategies and the need to increase the skills of existing staff to reduce the need for outside hiring.
