AI & Beyond
HOW WILL AI CHANGE THE FUTURE OF WORK?
The age of AI is here, and rapid technology advancements are impacting the demand for digital skills in the workforce. We asked our industry partners how they are navigating this change. Here are 8 key takeaways about the tech skills needed in business today and how to prepare your workforce for the future.
Data skills are in demand
Data has ruled our world in the past year. Code First Girls has placed more women in data scientist and data analyst roles than any other position. Data optimisation is crucial for business performance, organisation, customer insights, and the development of AI. It’s therefore no surprise that our clients are keen to hire in the field. Our data jobs also include ‘Insights Analyst’ and ‘Business Analyst’; roles that support organisations to make better business decisions.
Likewise, our career-switcher community is also keen to move into the field of data. In our most recent annual survey, 39% of our community said that they were looking to upskill within the field of data science, beating out all other technologies.
Cloud and Cyber remain imperative
As technology and the threat of hackers advance, so does an organisation’s need for cyber security. Similarly, cloud technology is becoming more popular because it offers a safe way to store and access data. In fact, when we asked our community which future technologies they were most excited about cybersecurity took the top spot.
Research predicts that those working in Cloud and Cyber have some of the highest job security in tech. This is especially true during a global tech talent shortage, where hiring managers struggle to bridge the skills gap in these specialist fields.
Some of our cloud-based roles that have seen a surge in demand are Cloud Engineer and Cloud Data Engineer.
Prepare for new job roles
Code First Girls spoke with National Grid’s Chief Information and Digital Officer, Sarah Milton-Hunt, about mapping out skills for the future tech workforce. What she anticipated is that the future tech landscape won’t solely revolve around coding.
Emerging roles that require communication skills indicate an increasing role to be played by career switchers and arts & humanities students in the industry’s future. McKinsey recently reported that 7% of all organisations which are hiring AI roles are looking for prompt engineers.
Recognising the emerging importance of AI, Code First Girls recently announced our new +Masters course in AI and Machine Learning which allows learners to explore careers such as AI Designer, AI Engineer, ML Engineer, Big Data Engineer and more.
Conduct strategic workforce planning
Gartner, suggests that AI is going to generate 500 million net new jobs by 2036. To stay competitive and on top of emerging technologies, it is crucial for organisations to engage in workforce planning. Our partners are already using our AI and Machine Learning +Masters to ensure their workforce has the skills needed for the jobs of the future
For many of our partners, the starting point is our Kickstarter classes in Python and Data & SQL. These classes build talent pipelines that progress to our CFGdegree streams in either software or data. They provide a strong foundation for those starting out in tech and wanting to build careers in AI and Machine Learning.
Invest in T-shaped developers
The industry faces a stark deficit in diverse talent at the mid-level. With 50% of women leaving their roles in tech by the age of 35, and only 52 women being promoted to manager for every 100 men, more and more employers are looking to recruit those with more than two years of experience in coding to fill that gap.
We’ve seen a demand for T-shaped developers, those who understand technical leadership and modern software practices including Agile, DevOps and automation with deployment to the cloud. Companies need to retain women in tech to ensure diversity and inclusion continue to build alongside tech advancements such as AI. We work with employers to upskill their existing employees or women at mid-level talent through our Mid-Level Accelerator, helping them to unlock developer velocity and enjoy business benefits such as higher innovation, revenue growth and increased margins.
Retain talent with reskilling and redeployment
Reskilling and redeployment will become imperative to retaining talent and staying competitive. Not only is reskilling important for keeping up with the accelerated pace of growth in tech but will also give companies the best opportunity to avoid having to make redundancies to adapt to the changing industry.
This is especially important for individuals in the roles that are likely to be affected or taken by the rise of industries like AI. Hubspot estimates that these roles may include Computer Support Specialists and Market Research Analysts. There is such a great opportunity to use existing talent inside businesses to create new career and growth opportunities, creating a win-win situation for employees and employers alike.
Embrace AI productivity gains
Studies show that AI significantly boosts productivity, particularly in the field of software development. According to McKinsey, their developers found ‘impressive speed gains for many common developer tasks’ such as writing and optimising existing code.
While many developers may be concerned by AI’s capabilities, research such as this suggests that AI will transform roles, allowing individuals to focus more on strategy and high-level thinking. McKinsey suggests that 20-30% of our work will be transformed by automation in the coming decade. In our recent survey, a massive 56% of our community in tech based roles said that they use AI on a daily basis – with the majority of these people saying they use AI to gather information quickly (65%), to improve productivity (58%) and to improve the speed of work (47%).
Likewise, across industries, we’re seeing our clients use AI in a myriad of ways, from chatbots to identifying research gaps and detecting fraud for customers in the banking industry. When asked what excites them most about AI, a quarter of our surveyed community mentioned the advances in scientific research that it will bring. In second place was the development of smart home technology, closely followed by personalised healthcare.
The rise of AI is a huge opportunity for all businesses
It’s easy to become concerned about the role of AI in the future workforce. However, the World Economic Forum found that more than 50% of companies expect job growth due to technological trends. Meanwhile, AI is expected to bring a huge amount of economic growth, with Goldman Sachs predicting a 7% increase in global GDP over a 10-year period.
If organisations begin to upskill employees now, they will be way ahead of the curve by the time AI hits its peak. Likewise, for the individual looking to begin or progress their tech careers, there’s no better way than learning to work with the languages of the future.
To learn more about how CFG can help your organisation prepare for the future world of work, speak to our experts 👇
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