Upskilling could help techies survive layoffs: 5 case studies tell you how

There has been a spate of layoff announcements by information technology companies alongside fears of further downsizing during the year. One of the main reasons for downsizing is that many technological skills are becoming outdated due to automation, leading to redundancy.

But experts say this also presents an opportunity: “Robots might replace human beings but you need intelligent humans to manage the robots,“ says Lovleen Bhatia, CEO, Edureka, an e-learning platform.

So, if you are able to upskill yourself and stay relevant, you can still be indispensable to the organisation.

Meet Rupam Sri, 35, a Bengaluru based techie who began her career with Java coding and was into manual testing. As technologies evolved, she felt the need to upgrade her skills to automation testing. It required her to learn new concepts and gain expertise. “I signed up for a certification training for Selenium 3.0, which is an ultra-efficient software testing tool that helps automate web applications,“ says Rupam. “This certification has helped me land an international automation testing project in my current organisation,“ she adds. The message is clear: identify a niche skill that the world needs and master it to stay industry-relevant.

There are courses and certification programmes that can help you acquire the latest technological skills. Skills that are currently in high demand include data science and analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, internet of things (IoT), digital marketing and product management. “Nasscom predicts that between now and 2025, digital-led IT services will grow four times, while traditional IT services will grow to double the current numbers ,“ says Arun Rajamani, Country GM, Pluralsight India, an online education company for IT professionals.

The cost of learning these new-age skills ranges from Rs 25,000 and Rs 5.5 lakh, depending on the course, mode, and duration. However, as these skills are niche and in demand, you can expect a good return on the investment. “Typically , there is a jump of 20-50% in salaries when you pick up these skills,“ says Gaurav Vohra, CEO, Jigsaw Academy, an analytics education platform. Diwakar Chittora, CEO, Intellipaat, a corporate training platform adds, “We have seen professionals getting hikes of 50%.“

If you feel underutilised, acquiring new skills can help you leverage your potential. That's exactly what Neethu Pillai did. With a degree in mathematics and an MBA, she felt testing wasn't the right role for her.“I opted for a course in big data and data science, as I am comfortable with numbers,“ says Pillai. “I learned statistics, predictive modelling and analytics tools like R, which helped me find a data scientist role at an MNC,“ she adds.