We are living in an age of rapidly evolving technology; The pace of change is like never before and even as this article is being written, who knows what new technology will hit the market to change the tech scenario completely.
What does this mean for one with a career already in the digital world or all those waiting to enter the world of tech?
It means that one must at all times, stay current with technology trends. If you choose to remain a dinosaur, you will meet the fate of a dinosaur. To know the new and evolving technologies is no more a choice, but a must if you want to be a part of the IT world.
Here are five technology trends you should watch for in 2019, and some of the jobs that will be created by these trends, for the time to train yourself for any of these emerging careers is right now.
1.Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence or AI is broadly of two types, narrow AI and general AI . Narrow AI is what we see all around us in computers today: intelligent systems that have been taught or learned how to carry out specific tasks without being explicitly programmed how to do so. The voice recognizing Siri, vision recognizing programs, recommendation softwares, interpreting video feeds from drones carrying out visual inspections of infrastructure such as oil pipelines, organizing personal and business calendars, responding to simple customer-service queries, are all instances of the use of narrow AI.
General AI is the type of adaptable intellect found in humans, an intelligence that is flexible and capable to learn and perform a variety of tasks.
A survey conducted among four groups of experts in 2012/13 by AI researchers Vincent C Müller and philosopher Nick Bostrom reported a 50 percent chance that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) would be developed between 2040 and 2050. Jobs in AI are predicted to be about 22 million by 2020. Jobs will be created in development, programming, testing, support and maintenance, to name a few.
2.Edge Computing
While cloud computing is the order of the day with more and more companies transitioning their business to Cloud, 2019 will see the rise of Edge Computing.
The exponential increase in the volume of data that we are dealing with, exposes the shortcomings of the Cloud. The answer is Edge Computing, which solves the issues of latency, privacy ,security and bandwidth.
Edge computing can act like mini datacenters and be used to process time-sensitive data in remote locations with limited or no connectivity to a centralized location. As the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices increases, edge computing uses increase. By 2022, the global edge computing market is expected to reach $6.73 billion.
The growing market of Edge Computing will create a job demand, primarily for software engineers.
3.Blockchain
According to Techcrunch.com, blockchain-related jobs are one of the fastest growing category of jobs, with 15 job openings for every one blockchain developer. The primary task of a blockchain developer, with average yearly salary of $130,000, is developing and implementing architecture and solutions using blockchain technology. Other than a developer, the blockchain domain is also looking for software engineers, consultants, project managers
So, what is the blockchain technology?
Simply put, by allowing digital information to be distributed but not copied, blockchain technology created the backbone of a new type of internet. Originally devised for the digital currency, Bitcoin, the tech community is now finding other potential uses for the technology. Information held on a blockchain exists as a shared — and continually reconciled — database. The blockchain database isn’t stored in any single location, meaning the records it keeps are truly public and easily verifiable. No centralized version of this information exists for a hacker to corrupt. Hosted by millions of computers simultaneously, its data is accessible to anyone on the internet.
Blockchain related jobs are primarily available at financial institutions, retail, healthcare, but this scope is increasing every day.
4.Cyber security.
With new technology comes new threats and as long as we have hackers constantly devising new strategies to illegally access data , finding ways to break the toughest security measures , cyber security will continue to evolve to thwart those attempts.
The number of cybersecurity jobs is growing at a rapid pace but with a demand far more than supply it’s predicted that we will have 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2021.Many cyber security jobs pay six-figure incomes, and roles can range from ethical hacker to security engineer to Chief Security Officer, offering a promising career path for someone who wants to get into and stick with this domain.
5.Internet of Things
The Internet of Things has been a constant buzzword in recent times. A relatively new concept, the number of IOT devices has already reached 8 billion in 2017. And this is just the beginning. It is predicted that by 2020 the number of devices will reach 30 billion.
IoT devices are built with internet connectivity that enables them to exchange data with each other which can enable better security, efficiency and decision making for businesses as data is collected and analyzed. It can enable predictive maintenance, speed up medical care, improve customer service, and offer numerous other benefits.
Skills needed to build a career in IoT include IoT security, cloud computing knowledge, data analytics, automation, understanding of embedded systems, device knowledge, to name only a few.
The only constant about technology today is change. Having said that, all these 5 domains are here to stay and promise a career potential. For anyone wanting to make an entry into this world, this is the right time to get on board, learn the know how, get trained and position yourself for a successful career.
Image credit Background vector created by Freepik