Software Engineering is Not Dying
There is a misconception that software engineering jobs will cease to exist in the future. That is certainly not the case. Indian IT firm TCS is currently struggling to fill 80,000 open positions due to a notable skill gap.
The issue is not a lack of interest in hiring engineers, but that freshers' skills don't meet the requirements. The time is not far off when India might run out of skilled software engineers. According to a recent report, India barely has about 2,000 senior AI software engineers.
“I’m about to graduate with a CS degree and have never used a ‘library’, ‘framework’, or ‘API’.” This was the topic of a Reddit discussion, which soon saw hundreds of reactions pouring in from people who pointed at the sad state of CS degrees worldwide.?
Opportunities Galore
AIM believes that even with recent challenges in tech employment, opportunities for “10x developers” remain plentiful. Despite global economic uncertainties, the Indian IT sector is projected to see an 8-10% increase in hiring in 2024, with a strong focus on roles in AI, ML, cybersecurity, and full-stack development.
Last week alone, LinkedIn showed a whopping 99,000 software engineering internship opportunities in India.?
With generative AI on the rise, there is a high demand for engineers with AI and machine learning skills. For instance, Indian AI startup Sarvam AI last month launched a residency program offering salaries as high as INR 1 lakh per month.
AI professionals in the country are earning a salary premium of 40-80% compared to traditional IT roles.
Apart from AI and ML, the widespread adoption of cloud platforms has created a demand for cloud development and management experts. Moreover, with rising cyber threats, cybersecurity engineers, too, have become indispensable for data and system protection.
Similarly, full-stack developers, adept at both front-end and back-end development, are highly sought after. The same goes for DevOps specialists who streamline software development and deployment processes, crucial for modern workflows.
Company-Specific Salaries
Here’s a snapshot of the average salaries for developers offered by some prominent software companies in India:
New Skills Required?
As an engineering student, the first programming language one is taught is C++, which may not be of much relevance today. At Databricks’ AI+Data Summit 2024, researcher Yejin Choi said that researchers no longer use the language for AI research.
Despite its performance benefits and applications in various AI fields, such as speech recognition and computer vision, C++ is no longer the go-to language for AI development. In contrast, Python’s user-friendly nature, extensive libraries, and large developer community have propelled it to the forefront of AI programming.
In the current era, simply learning programming languages isn't adequate since AI systems can now handle coding effortlessly. Tools like GitHub Copilot, Replit, ChatGPT, Code Llama, and Devin are paving the way for automated coding in the future, allowing coding in natural languages like Hindi, Kannada, and others.
Generative AI demands new skills, such as proficiency in TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras, and Theano, for building neural networks. On his recent visit to India, GitHub chief Thomas Dohmke said, “In many ways, this new age of AI has actually created more demand for developers because now someone also has to build all the AI systems.”?
He added that both the relative size of a country’s developer population and developers' ability to build AI or work with AI without constraints will be directly correlated to a country’s economic success in the age of AI.
Planning to move to the US? Apparently, that may not be a good idea.
Tech giants have been replacing their workforce with Indians based in India, rather than Indians working in the US. A Reddit user pointed out that many US citizens are hesitant about getting into the field of computer science as companies outsource a lot of their work to India, taking advantage of the lower wages here.?
For instance, Google recently disbanded its entire US-based Python team, which consisted of fewer than ten people. Recently, it also terminated 200 employees from its 'core team' and transferred certain positions abroad, including India and Mexico, for cheaper labour.
It's sad that Indians earn much less than their US counterparts. “The average annual salary of developers in India is almost 2.5 times lesser than the average salary of developers all over the world, and almost five times less than the average salary in the US,” said Nitesh Agarwal, the CEO at Curated Connections.??
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Co-Founder & CEO, Goldenflitch | Product Design, UX Research, Interactions, Brand Strategy
3 个月This really highlights the importance of continuous learning and upskilling in technology.