Top Tech Skills to Master in 2022: Coursera Report, Pt. 1
Top Tech Skills to Master in 2022: Coursera Report, Pt. 1

Global digitalization is here: the tech industry grows so fast that new solutions, which make every sphere of our life much easier, are released weekly, and nearly all jobs have digital elements now. No job is exempt from digitalization and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this transformation in nearly every industry. SimbirSoft Nov 28, 2021·4 min read

Coursera, an online course provider, published the Global Skills Index 2021, which analyzed the proficiency of its learners across 10 industries in a set of 26 skills. We would like to highlight the impact on the technology domain and how outsourcing can help companies find the people who possess the skills needed for a project.

According to Coursera’s research, each industry reported an acceleration in the need for technology skills to account for the lack of physical interaction induced by the pandemic. These are changes that appear unlikely to recede as the pandemic does; rather, companies will continue to move forward with digitalization at an accelerated pace.

To maintain the transformation velocity, specific technology and data skills are needed across industries — namely cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analysis, and software development. Currently, Coursera’s analysis of trending skills in the Technology and Data Science domains shows that people are highly interested in learning software engineering and data analysis skills — look at the picture below.

Source: coursera.org

Technology Industry Not Immune From COVID-19

This year, the overall skills proficiency ranking of the technology industry fell from number one in 2020 to number six. Last year, Coursera predicted that tech companies would need to remain deeply committed to addressing the continuously shrinking half-life of skills within their talent pool. That idea, along with the stress of a global pandemic and increased learning efforts in other industries, affected the skills ranking of workers in technology companies. In a pandemic that saw significant unemployment growth, skills shortages persist. It’s increasingly difficult for employers to find qualified candidates even though there is a growing number of applicants for many of the most-needed positions.

Technology industry learners do excel in technology skills. Though the number-one ranking from last year slipped to third this year, skills proficiencies remain cutting-edge overall with cloud computing (100 percentile), software engineering (89 percentile), and computer networking (78 percentile) topping the list. Technology skills that over-index for the technology industry are distributed computing architecture, software testing, network architecture, software architecture, computer architecture, software engineering, and operating systems. These are the same skills that software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers will need. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for those jobs will grow 22% by 2029.

Source: coursera.org

Outsource Everything

The answer is on the surface: outsourcing is a good option that can help businesses find the people who possess the skills needed for a project. Outsourcing the project or bringing the outsourced engineers to work on-site allows in-house employees to learn from the contractors while ensuring that the job is done with the necessary level of skill.

In addition to giving access to the top talent, outsourcing can benefit business in many other ways which explain why companies of all sizes look outside their company for their staffing needs. Here are some of them:

Rapid growth. Having more staff on hand may seem promising, but it results in expenses that go into hiring more full-time employees. In the end, it may limit the potential for growth.

Having more staff on hand may seem promising, but it results in expenses that go into hiring more full-time employees. In the end, it may limit the potential for growth. Flexibility. Outsourcing can help the business make it through a busy season without hiring in-house employees: after a big project is done, you can easily switch back to an entirely in-house team, and a good contractor can help you with scaling your outsourcing needs.

Outsourcing can help the business make it through a busy season without hiring in-house employees: after a big project is done, you can easily switch back to an entirely in-house team, and a good contractor can help you with scaling your outsourcing needs. Maintaining focus. Outsourcing secondary tasks allow your in-house team members to focus on internal tasks, helping your business run more efficiently.

There are several formats of outsourcing that can help businesses get access to the best specialists in the market. A company can strengthen its development team by inviting experienced outsourced specialists to take part in the project. The other option — a dedicated team, formed by a contractor to work under the client’s management. Thirdly — end-to-end software development: the outsourcer organizes a full cycle of work, including development, management, testing, and implementation.

In Conclusion

To sum it up, Coursera’s report reviews the state of digital transformation in each industry and how the pandemic has affected it. This information can help companies determine how they can best take advantage of opportunities to reskill and upskill workers to increase innovation and gain a competitive advantage. And if you are looking for a reliable IT outsourcing contractor or want to strengthen your in-house development team — contact us!

The full research was originally published on coursera.org
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['Technology', 'Software Development', 'Coursera', 'Outsourcing', 'Tech']