Technology is now developing at such a rapid pace that annual trend forecasts may seem out-of-date before they even go live as a blog post or article written. When technology advances, it allows for even quicker change and development, allowing the rate of change to increase, until it finally becomes exponential.
Technology-based professions aren’t shifting at the same pace, but they’re growing, and the experienced IT professional knows his or her position won’t stay the same. And a 21st century IT worker should be actively learning (of necessity if not desire).
What do you mean by that?
This means keeping up to date with developments in technology. And it means holding your sights on the future, understanding what skills you need to learn and what kinds of work you want to be skilled at doing. Here are eight technology trends that you should be looking for in 2020, and some of the jobs that those trends will make.
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
In recent years, Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has also generated a lot of hype, but it remains a phenomenon to watch as its impact on how we live, work and play are only in the early stages. Additionally, we’ve established other AI branches, including Machine Learning, which we’ll go through below. AI refers to computer systems designed to mimic human intelligence and perform tasks such as image recognition, voice or patterns, and decision taking. AI can do these things more easily and with greater precision than humans.
Every day, five out of six Americans use AI services in one way or another, including navigation apps, video services, personal mobile assistants, ride-sharing apps, home workers assistants and smart home devices. In addition to customer use, AI is used, among many other money-saving activities, to schedule trains, evaluate business risk, forecast maintenance and boost energy efficiency.
AI is one aspect of what we generally refer to as automation, and automation is a hot topic due to possible job losses. Experts predict that robotics would kill another 73 million jobs by 2030. However, automation creates and eliminates jobs, particularly in the field of AI: experts predict 23 million jobs in AI by 2020. Jobs will be developed, to name but a few, in development, programming, testing, support, and maintenance. One such work is architect of artificial intelligence. Many claim it will soon challenge trained practitioners in need of data scientists. Read more about AI Certification Training.
2. Machine Learning
A subset of AI is Machine Learning. Computers are programmed with Machine Learning to learn how to do what they are not programmed to do: they learn by finding patterns and observations from the data. We usually have two forms of learning, supervised and unmonitored. Although Machine Learning is a subset of AI, we also have subsets in the Machine Learning domain, which include neural networks, natural language processing (NLP), and deep learning.
Each of these subsets provides a chance to specialise in a career area that can only expand.
Machine learning is being rapidly applied in all kinds of sectors, generating tremendous demand for trained professionals. The demand for machine learning is expected to rise to $8.81 billion by 2022. Applications of machine learning are used for data processing, data mining and pattern recognition. On the user end, web search results, real-time ads, and network intrusion detection are driven by machine learning, to name only a few of the many tasks it can do. It is creating jobs in addition to accomplishing countless tasks on our behalf. Machine learning jobs rank among the top new jobs on LinkedIn. These positions pay well: A machine learning engineer’s median salary in 2019 was £106,225. Machine learning positions include programmers, developers, researchers and scientists in data science.
3. Robotic Process Automation or RPA
Robotic Process Automation, or RPA, is another technology which automates jobs, like AI and Machine Learning. RPA is the use of software to simplify business processes such as programme analysis, transaction processing, data handling and even email replying. RPA automates the repeat activities people used to do. These are not just a low-paid worker’s menial tasks: up to 45 percent of the jobs we do can be automated, including the work of financial administrators, doctors and CEOs.
Although Forrester Research estimates that RPA automation will threaten the livelihood of 230 million or more information workers or around 9 per cent of the global workforce, RPA often creates new jobs although altering existing employment. McKinsey notes that it is possible to completely automate fewer than 5 percent of jobs, but about 60 percent can be partly automated.
RPA provides a variety of job prospects for you as an IT professional looking to the future and seeking to grasp technology trends, including developer, project manager, market analyst, software architect, and consultant. And those jobs are paying off well. SimplyHired.com reports the average RPA salary is £ 73,861, but that’s the average collected from junior developer salaries to senior solution architects, with the top 10 percent making more than £141,000 a year.
4. Edge Computing
Cloud computing has formerly been a technology phenomenon to watch, with major players leading the market, including AWS (Amazon Web Services), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Cloud computing adoption is still growing, as more and more businesses are transitioning to a cloud solution. But this is not the latest technology anymore. As the amount of data we’re dealing with continues to increase, in some cases we’ve recognised the shortcomings of cloud computing.
Edge computing is designed to help address some of those problems as a way to circumvent the congestion caused by cloud computing and bring data to a processing centre. Whether you like, it can live “on the bottom,” closer to where the computation needs to happen. For this purpose, edge computing can be used to process time-sensitive data with minimal to no access to a centralised location at remote location. Edge computing will behave like mini datacenters in those circumstances.
Edge computing will increase as Internet of Things (IoT) apps become more commonly used. The global edge computing market is expected to hit $6.72 billion by 2022. As with every rising sector, this will generate several different jobs, primarily for software engineers.
Learn more about Cloud, AWS & Azure Courses.
5. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) immerses the user in an environment while Augment Reality (AR) enhances the structure. While VR has been used mainly for gaming up to now, it has also been used for training, as with VirtualShip, a simulation platform used to train U.S. Ship captains of the Navy, Army, and Coast Guard. A common example of AR is the Pokemon Go.
Both VR and AR have tremendous potential for sports, entertainment, education, marketing and even after injury recovery. As with this Pepsi Max bus shelter, either it could be used to train doctors to do surgery, give museum-goers a deeper experience, boost theme parks, or even improve marketing.
There are big players on the VR market, such as Google, Samsung, and Oculus, but many startups are emerging and will be recruiting, and demand for VR and AR skills professionals can only increase. It doesn’t take much advanced knowledge to get started in VR. Basic programming skills and forward thinking mentality will produce a work, but other employers may also look for optics as a skill set and hardware engineers.
6. Blockchain
While most people think of blockchain technology in relation to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, blockchain offers protection that is useful in many other ways. Blockchain can be defined in the simplest of terms as data to which you can only add, not take away or modify. Hence the word “line,” as you’re building a data line. Unable to modify the preceding blocks is what makes it so safe. Moreover, blockchains are powered by consensus, so that no single party can take control of the data.
You don’t need a trusted third party with blockchain to manage or verify the transactions. For a comprehensive and thorough understanding of the technology, you may refer to our Blockchain training program. Several industries include blockchain and incorporate it, and as the use of blockchain technology grows, so does the market for trained professionals. We are still behind in that respect. Blockchain-related jobs are the second fastest rising work group, with 14 job openings for every single blockchain developer, according to Techcrunch.com. A Blockchain developer specialises in designing and implementing blockchain technology design and solutions. An average Blockchain developer’s annual salary is £ 130,000. If you’re fascinated by Blockchain and its applications, and want to make your career in this fast-growing field, now is the best time to learn Blockchain and get ready for an exciting future.
7. Internet of Things (IoT)
With WiFi connectivity, many “things” are now being installed, meaning they can be linked to the Internet — and to each other. The Internet of Things, or IoT, is therefore. The Internet of Things is the future and has already made it possible to connect and share data over the Internet to computers, home appliances, cars and much more. And we’re still in the early stages of IoT:
by 2017, the number of IoT devices reached 8.4 billion in 2020 is expected to hit 30 billion devices. We are already using and learning from IoT, as users. When we forget before we leave for work and preheat our ovens on our way home from work, we can lock our doors remotely, all while we track our fitness on our Fitbits and catch a ride with Lyft. But companies have a lot to gain now and in the near future too. As data is collected and analysed, IoT will allow better protection, productivity and business decision-making.
This will allow predictive maintenance, optimise medical treatment, enhance customer service and provide benefits that we haven’t even considered before. Despite this boon in the creation and adoption of IoT, however, experts say that not enough IT professionals get trained for IoT jobs. An ITProToday article says we’re going to need 200,000 more IT employees who aren’t in the pipeline yet, and a survey of engineers found that 25.7 per cent believe low ability rates are the biggest barrier to growth in the industry. That means easy entry into the field for someone interested in an IoT career if you are inspired, with a variety of options to get started. Skills needed include IoT protection, knowledge of cloud computing, data analytics, automation, understanding of embedded systems, knowledge of devices, to name but a few. It’s the internet of things, after all, and those things are many and varied, meaning the skills that are required are also.
So, What’s Next?
While technologies are emerging and developing all around us, these eight technologies now and for the near future offer promising career prospects. All seven are suffering from a shortage of skilled staff, so the time is right for you to choose one, get educated, and embark on the early stages of the technology, positioning you now and in the future for the success.
Check out our Top10 Application of Big Data Across Different Industries Post.
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