Artificial Intelligence (AI) has completely changed the skills and qualities needed to pursue a career in the tech world, two top IBM executives told Hindustan Times at the IBM Think Mumbai 2024 event on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.
“When I was educated, I learnt five programming languages,” said Hans A.T. Dekkers, General Manager of IBM Asia Pacific. “If I’m a student today, there’s no real need to go as deep in learning and understanding these languages anymore. AI will actually help you do it.”
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It is now possible to prompt AI to program an application, so the element of skill is completely changing, he added.
When asked about the qualities that can help people in pursuing a career in the AI and tech landscape, he mentioned the following three as the basic key foundational qualities needed:
- Creativity
- Hunger for learning
- Ability to find unconventional ways of solving problems
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Dekkers believes these qualities, when augmented by AI, will position anybody for the future because “there is nothing you cannot envision with this technology you can’t create. And that’s the beauty.”
What is the situation like in India when it comes to skills for AI development?
India has a wealth of inherent skills that can be easily towards taking on technical roles, according to Sandip Patel, Managing Director of IBM India Private Limited.
“We do a ton of work in skilling in tier 2,3, and even tier 4 cities around India, and we find some amazing talent where with the right kind of training, they are doing sort of unnatural work,” said Patel. “And without even formal college education.”
When it comes to college education, Patel said several roles IBM advertises doesn’t even need a college degree. He takes the example of young girls in Nagaland who IBM has been training in making drones and program in AI, with them even representing to the finance minister during her trip there.
Patel added that “some of the softer skills are very critical because as we work now and make technologies more consumable for people, having the soft skills to make sure that people are learning how to work with technology and get that bridge crossed, becomes extremely important.”
How is the employment situation like in the tech and AI industry currently?
IBM’s CEO Arvind Krishna told in a May 2023 interview with Bloomberg that up to 30% of the tech giant’s back-office jobs, which adds up to 7,800 roles, could get replaced by AI and that IBM (referred to as Big Blue) would slow hiring roles over the coming five years from then. IBM also announced a plan earlier that year to cut 3,900 jobs.
Afterwards, IBM’s first-quarter 2024 earnings report showed it kept $400 million for “workforce rebalancing.”
This situation is not something only regarding IBM. Cisco cut 7% of its workforce while at the same time, investing $1 billion into AI startups. Meta also followed suit to focus on AI, just like Amazon and Intuit. Dell also cut around 12,500 sales-related roles and integrated AI to replace those jobs.
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