The phrase "Industry 4.0" refers to the present wave of technological development that is fueled by breakthroughs in human-machine interaction. The capacity of India's data centre industry is predicted to increase by 21% from 375 MW in 2020 to 1,078 MW by 2025 and India's demand for Digital Talent jobs is expected to become 20 times larger by 2024. The figures are speaking for themselves and are clearly indicating the AI wave about to hit. It’s time to hone up skills to be ready to face the wave.

During the pandemic, the need for skilling and upskilling hit a new high, and big data analytics, together with AI/ML, are expected to be the most in-demand skills in India by 2022.

Are we sure about the wave?

Present economic growth is fueled by technological advancements and innovation. Both the government and the private sector have joined the party to realise the ambitions to become a leading digital economy globally.

The government has embarked on the digital transformation journey with numerous initiatives including Aadhaar, Direct Benefit Transfer, Common Services Centres, DigiLocker, mobile-based UMANG services, UPI, e-Hospital, e-NAM, e-Pathshala, and so on. Also, a ‘National AI Portal’ and ‘Responsible AI for Youth’ was launched to lay the foundation for an AI-powered future. Further, global MNCs are investing heavily in the Indian market which will further amplify the rising demand for talent, hence widening the demand-supply gap. Take, for instance,

• Microsoft has announced its plan to set up a fourth data centre region in Hyderabad and the largest one in India. The investment is in line with the firm's mission to help clients prosper in a cloud and AI-enabled digital economy, and it will become part of the world's largest cloud infrastructure, according to the company.
• As the business for Uber went down globally, the company plans to cut costs and shift engineering jobs to India to build innovative products.
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA) player - Automation Anywhere has committed to invest $100 million in India in the next 3-5 years.
• Mastercard, a multinational payments technology company, has committed to investing $1 billion in India over the next five years.

How to remain relevant for the future jobs

“Humans unwilling to change will get replaced by machines”

• Brush up the basics: For a beginner, brushing up mathematical, statistical and probabilistic skills are some of the basic prerequisites to enter the field of AI. Adding on, coding is still the most in-demand skill in every industry. In terms of skills to bring to an organisation, people with a craving for creativity and the mentality to think out of the box remains to be most sought-out for any organisation. 
• Get hands-on programming language: The tech industry's reliance on technologies like Javascript, Python, Kotlin, Java, React Native, Swift, SQL, and HTML are nowhere going to end soon. 
• Work on Projects: Once done with the basics, work on a wide variety of projects. This will allow gaining valuable expertise in the profession while enhancing one’s resume as well. So, work on as many projects and cooperate with other project aspirants. It will assist in upskilling and matching the industry standards.
• Upskilling is the key: From programming, software development to cloud computing, and cybersecurity are just a few of the IT skills that are required in the AI domain. One needs to have a high level of ability in one or more of these skill categories to excel in AI. Persons with some level of expertise in established areas of IT have lots of options to upgrade, learn a few additional skills and move into AI. 
• Have a degree: AI is an appealing and wide-open job path for both experienced and aspiring IT professionals. Now, as the traditional options of having degrees and skills-specific industry courses are available in the online format, one can easily augment their current skills at their own pace.

To sum up, as AI adoption is expected to be widespread, most other IT jobs will require some sort of expertise and understanding of AI in the future, even if they are not particularly related to AI roles. With rapid digitisation, young minds are well aware of the changing skillsets requirements in the industry, especially when it comes to AI, ML, data science, fintech, supply-chain management, and more. Upskilling or re-skilling is the sure-shot winning formula to avoid redundancy and be ready for the jobs of the future.