By 2030, the skill deficit is expected to cost USD 975 billion and USD 11.5 trillion to countries like the USA and Germany. This deficit can add up to a USD 11.5 trillion loss for G20 countries.
Surging disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence that portend imposing job losses in the decade ahead will compound scarcity immensely. To say we are not prepared for this torrent would be an understatement. Rather, saying we have not even begun our defense would be the most suitable admission.
Barring a few top universities, the institutionalized education system has been under the weather for a long time and there is no sign of it being revived. Added to this predicament is the astounding appearance of de novo technologies like Data Science that upturn the tech-skill market every now and then.
In 2009, a surreptitious technology quietly crept into the tech space under the veils of a Cryptocurrency and eventually robbed us of our sleep. It nudged us from all corners and our crippled skill-development system fell flat on its face. Bitcoin had its day in the sun but what followed it was nothing less than the Big-Bang of the technology universe. The cryptic tech-world morphed almost overnight and compelled us to rethink our ways. Blockchain is here and it brought a tech racket along with it. The question now is not one of out-competing the competitors; the question this time is of survival.
It is pandemonium. Tech markets are inundated with requirements for blockchain professionals. Blockchain freelancing jobs have grown 6000% year over year and 92% of business owners are thrilled to own this sphinx. As usual, the tech-giants are in a frenzy to capitalize on this robust opportunity. IBM and MasterCard have rushed to file more than 80 patents on blockchain related technology. Smaller players have acclimatized pretty quickly and more than two thirds of businesses with 10,000 employees or more have incorporated blockchain in their systems. The flood rose above our heads even before most of us acknowledged its presence in our confined innocuous worlds. In 2018, Glassdoor reported a 300% rise in blockchain jobs and now we are almost literally drowning in it.
Global tech giants are grasping at straws, rushing to get the most lucrative chunk out of this slight supply market. IBM employs around 1600 total employees in this space and has 150 new openings for blockchain professionals. They have recently disclosed 400 active blockchain projects. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and others are following its lead. To ace the competitive-advantage game and catch their own purple squirrels first-hand these companies are eager to pay a fortune, even if the candidate is nowhere near the closet fit. Paysa says the average salary of a blockchain developer in the US is US $95,545 with top-earners earning up to US $140,000. This the highest of any developer.
Even if we keep the economics of payoffs aside, this is an uneven battle destined for a loss. The supply of blockchain professionals is writhing to meet the mark. Only 300,000 Blockchain professionals are available worldwide. Many of them are gig-workers. At a time when resource-affluent developed nations are barely getting a bite of the meager pie, we can’t even begin to talk about the developing ones. China has almost 10 times the demand of its current supply of blockchain professionals. Owing to the shortage of supply, only 11% of business owners expect to employ blockchain professionals this year from outside.
Traditional education mechanisms cannot be trusted with quick-fixes that are the need of the hour. It is time for tech enthusiasts to pull their capes and get in the sun to save the day:
Learn quickly: The best time to learn was yesterday. But, call it our good luck, with changing times, learning mechanisms too have changed and now a chance to get credentialed could only be a few clicks away.
Widen your net of skills: Most online courses don’t cost an arm and a leg. Multiple credentials have the potential to add personality to your profile.
Play hardball: A stagnant career is a dead career. Constant professional development is critical to professional survival and securing a blockchain credential could be the perfect clutch. Traditional programmers or new aspirants with a basic understanding of programming languages can swiftly upgrade themselves by opting for a credential or a certificate from a legitimate provider.