With massive layoffs and ChatGPT coming, how can employees in the IT industry 'survive'?

News on March 20th. Since last year, technology companies have laid off a large number of employees. Coupled with the accelerated development of artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT, more jobs are beginning to face the risk of being replaced. Workers in the technology industry The pressure is increasing. Some career experts and technology industry veterans said that to succeed in the technology industry this year, people will not only need professional skills such as programming, but also soft skills such as creativity and leadership that cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence.

Workers in the technology industry have generally been hit hard last year. According to data from the layoff website, in the first two months of 2023, 424 technology companies laid off 120,253 people.

But the reality may not be as bad as it sounds. Bonfire is a company that provides talent development accelerator services for the new generation of working women. "This kind of adjustment happens all the time, and companies will often use a downturn as an excuse to lay off employees," explains co-founder Rachel Bellow. "If we look at hiring and firing data over the past 24 months, we have You will find that companies such as Meta, Salesforce, and Microsoft hire far more employees than they fire, and sometimes the number of new hires is even 10 times the number of layoffs." But according to the labor force report of February this year by the recruitment website LinkedIn, since last spring Since then, the industry with the largest decline in recruitment has been the technology, information and media industry, with a 41% decline in recruitment. To remain competitive in these fields, candidates must possess strong skills.

Whether tech workers are trying to keep their place at the company, survive a business reorganization, or find a new niche, continued intellectual and emotional growth can benefit their careers. . Career experts and tech industry veterans share the skills tech workers need to succeed this year. It turns out that some skills require less technical expertise than others.

“As the world and the way we work have changed so much, how we define terms like management, communication and leadership must evolve with the times because many of the previous ways have become outdated,” said workplace expert, Says Jenn Lim, CEO of Delivering Happiness and best-selling author of Beyond Happiness. “It’s time to remind ourselves that we need to make smart choices about how we grow, develop and reskill, and that if we get better at things that automation will never replace, the possibility that we will remain relevant will always exist.”

LinkedIn recently released the "2023 Most In-demand Skills Report", which is a basis for evaluating the experience of technology workers and what skills may need to be strengthened, but the skills needed are far more than that. “Companies are not just looking for software developers, they are looking for developers who can combine finance, sales, operations and cloud computing knowledge,” Lim said. “In other words, companies are looking for people with a variety of skills. ”

Twenty years ago, people were taught to become experts in a certain field, but today this is risky because a specific skill is likely to become redundant or replaced by automation. Danielle Boris, CEO and founder of Sandbox, an HR technology company dedicated to leveraging and motivating talent, said: “To succeed in the tech industry in 2023, talent will need to possess T-shaped skills (skills). Comprehensive skills such as wide range of skills and specialization in a certain field." Boris explained: "People should have the breadth of knowledge across disciplines and the depth of knowledge in a certain field, so that they are more valuable to the organization and to those who are constantly adapting their employees. This is especially true for the organization of the team."

The current job market is constantly evolving, and many employers have tended to prioritize skills when recruiting. LinkedIn career expert Andrew McCaskill explains that it's just as important to measure a candidate's skills as a degree or work experience. McCaskill advises job seekers to think of skills as a "career toolbox," highlighting the skills they already have and making a list of skills they don't have. He said: "Especially in turbulent times, adopting a skills-first strategy can make you more confident and proactive in the job market."

Like LinkedIn, Upwork also released the most popular jobs in 2023. Welcome skills list. Data shows that 60 million Americans have engaged in at least some freelance work in the past 12 months, accounting for 39% of the U.S. workforce. Ryan Clark, Upwork freelancer and founder of Mr. SharePoint, said: "I learned most of my skills through self-taught, through platforms such as the Microsoft 365 channel on YouTube, and through trial and error." "The more high-quality skills I have, the more marketable I am, so I always maintain the motivation to learn and stay at the forefront of the technology industry."

Kelly Donovan & Associates, a firm that serves job seekers across the United States, said skills in automation, artificial intelligence and digital marketing will be key in the coming months and years. is critical, and the demand for cybersecurity experts continues to grow. Donovan said: "The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the number of information security analyst jobs will grow 35% from 2021 to 2031, and many web development and software development skills such as Java, C and Python are also important for cybersecurity. Value."

To quickly build professional technical skills, Donovan recommends cheap, low-stress, self-paced options like online courses like those on Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, edX, and Coursera. While online courses are a great way to learn new skills, Donovan warns that if you're taking an online course without a live instructor and homework, you should also find ways and outlets to practice the skill and truly master it. Donovan suggests: “You can find suitable courses through the promotion programs of major universities, major technology companies, and edX and Coursera.” Both Coursera and edX work with many large technology companies to provide training certificates to graduates.

Marni Baker Stein, chief content officer at Coursera, said: "As employers generally lower their degree requirements, they value industry micro-credentials like this more." Coursera offers 5,500 courses. Free auditing service. Some of the most popular technical courses on Coursera in 2022 are User Experience Design Fundamentals, Introduction to Python Programming, and Algorithms Part I.

As artificial intelligence accelerates its development, more jobs are beginning to face the risk of being replaced, which makes leadership skills increasingly important. In a new course at the University of Michigan, students immerse themselves in real-life scenarios, practice organizing tasks and receive feedback. Stein said: "Leaders are those who help employees navigate change and even enable employees to thrive in change. This is a unique human skill that artificial intelligence may never replace."

Akhila Satish is the CEO of Meseekna and an award-winning professional scientist. She has worked with employers including NASA, Eli Lilly and Company, and Credit Suisse to assess and improve employee performance. "The biggest topic in the tech industry right now is artificial intelligence and what deploying tools like ChatGPT in the workplace means for tech workers," she said. Satish believes that the tools that will allow people to get ahead of artificial intelligence and thrive in the tech field Two essential skills have nothing to do with programming and coding, but rather creativity and innovation.

Satish said: "The creativity of artificial intelligence is far from the level of humans, which is why it is important to cultivate your own innovation capabilities, because artificial intelligence cannot replace it in the short term."

It turns out that what one thinks can be more valuable than what one knows. Celine Floyd, vice president and senior industrial psychologist at Cappfinity, a global talent recruitment and management company, said: "All studies show that emotional intelligence is a better predictor of a person's workplace performance than IQ." Cappfinity research report Showing that skills like resilience, agility, self-insight and inclusive leadership are critical for tech job seekers.

"Remaining resilient and motivated means you can get through difficult times, be a source of stability and positivity for others, and adapt to new circumstances. Everything goes to show that adaptability is the key to the tech industry this decade' Meta-skill' one," Floyd said. “Inclusive leadership is the ability to see and draw on the value of the diversity of others.” Emily Anhalt, clinical psychologist, co-founder and chief clinical officer of Coa Emily Anhalt also believes that "if you are not emotionally healthy, mastering all the technical skills in the world will not have a positive impact on your career in the technology industry." Anhalt said that if you want to achieve success in the technology field Sustaining success without working on communication, adaptability, and self-awareness is like being an Olympic athlete who wants to be successful but doesn't eat well and sleep well.

To develop these skills, it is necessary to maintain active practice, and Anhalt recommends doing emotional exercises. She said: "Emotional exercise can be any small emotional exertion that gets you a little bit out of your comfort zone so you can grow."

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