Is mass layoff in IT jobs a threat or possibility?
Despite of a huge possibilities unfolding in IT eco-system, the recent headlines from leading media’s reveals the threat of huge layoff in IT job sector. The Head Hunters India in its latest reports discloses that IT sectors will witness an annuall drop of 1.75lakh to 2lakh employees for next three years.
Recent reports from big players in IT like Cognizant, Wipro, Infosys reads: Cognizant is likely to lay off 6000 – 10000 non performance employees. Wipro sacked 600 employees after performance appraisal. Infosys releases 9000 employees. This is truly the new trend which evolves in the IT eco system. There is no static talent that keep one safe in IT for a lifetime. The key competence and technology is highly dynamic. Only the fittest could survive and become successful in IT.
Head Hunter India Chairman and MD, K. Lakshmikath told PTI, on analysing the report submitted by McKinsey & Co at the Nasscom India Leadership Forum says that “workforce in IT services firms will be ‘irrelevant’ over the next 3-4 years”. McKinsey India managing director further adds that 50-60% of the professionals have to be retrained in the latest technology to cope with the technological shift.
Obviously, in IT eco system there is no static key talents and competence that could pay for a life time. The change in IT take place in an explosive pace, hence there is no short cuts other than to master the new trends and techniques. Positively, for an IT professional the true learning begins right from the time he gets to his work desk. Collateral learning and updating of the technology and re-skilling for technological shifts is mandatory at every stage of career.
Among the recent developments, the open stack has emerged as the ultimate solution to manage cloud. It is growing drastically to include projects for block storage, networking, authentication, dashboard management, container management and many more. SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) are the combination of four technologies that drives innovation in business. The penetration of DevOps (integration of development and operation tools) is said to lead the software Industries. The paradigm shift from proprietary platform to open source is revolutionizing the IT industries from top to bottom lines. The recent Ransomware attack on windows based machine underlines the necessity for a platform shift to opensource which is highly secured.
Truly, this threat on massive lay off in the IT sector is not purposefully created mal-agenda of the employers. It’s the clear indication that a periodical change in strategies and technologies is implicit in IT work space. This should not be rated as a misfortune rather an opportunity for any professional to grow, rather than remain stagnant in the work space. Therefore it goes without saying that a personal enhancement in technical expertises should be done by the employee himself, rather than waiting for the company to retrain and update one’s own personal skills.
Internationally there are a many certifications programme which could be availed by any professionals collaterally while they are in services. An active appraisal of the genuine technology that could yield in future should be selected from reliable sources. If one could keep abreast with the latest developments in the industry, this changing scenario would definitely turn out to be the best deal in his career.
