‘Reskill or perish’ seems to be top of mind for Indian techies, as they rush to upskill themselves in a fast-changing tech landscape where artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a risk to jobs even as macroeconomic factors threaten to hamper IT sector growth in the short term.

IBM earlier this week said it may pause hiring and replace an estimated 7,800 jobs with AI.

Learning platforms including Simplilearn, Great Learning, Emeritus, Scaler, upGrad, and Coursera said they have seen a 20%-60% jump in IT professionals looking to upskill/reskill in the last 3-6 months.

Industry insiders attribute the spike in interest to multiple reasons including professionals trying to protect themselves from possible layoffs in a volatile market and picking up future-focused skills to stand out for better opportunities.

“The buzz around ChatGPT, especially for professionals in the tech space, emphasises the level of automation coming in the near future and underlines the fact that many low-skilled jobs will be at risk,” said Kashyap Dalal, cofounder of learning platform Simplilearn. “This further drives the urgency to take action and upskill to future-proof career growth.”

In the last 3-6 months, Simplilearn has seen a 50-60% year-on-year increase in enrolments.

According to the World Economic Forum’s ‘Future of Work’ report, 69 million new jobs will be created while 83 million jobs will be eliminated by 2027, resulting in a net loss of 14 million jobs.

With new technologies like generative AI and machine learning (ML) becoming mainstream, many IT professionals are seeking upskilling to stay ahead of the curve and remain employable.

Skills such as data analytics and data science, AI and machine learning, software engineering, generative AI, cloud, cybersecurity, full stack development, product management, and blockchain are most in demand, edtech companies said.

In the last three months, there’s been an overall 30% increase in demand for programmes from professionals in the IT domain – with cutting-edge skills most in demand, said Hari Krishnan, cofounder of Great Learning.

“Technology is constantly evolving, and professionals need to stay abreast of the latest developments to remain relevant and competitive,” he said. “As per our report, 85% of Indians believe that upskilling is necessary to future-proof their career and even those with job security recognise the value of upskilling.”

With the pandemic-induced economic uncertainty, many IT professionals are concerned about job security and do not want to fall into the ‘layoff’ bucket, said Mayank Kumar, cofounder of upGrad.

“Our long-format data science and AI/ML programs, along with Agile certifications, have seen higher enrolments in the last 3-6 months,” he said. “These programs are designed to allow professionals to acquire new market-ready skills and competencies to help them demonstrate their value to their employers and increase their chances of skipping career redundancy amid such testing times.”

Abhimanyu Saxena, cofounder of Scaler, said, “In India, the impact of layoffs may not be that much, but what it has done is shaken everyone out of their comfort zone. People are investing time and resources in upskilling.”

Data sciences and software engineering are among the most popular with IT professionals, he said.

Mohan Kannegal, CEO, India & APAC (consumer), of Emeritus, said there has been a noticeable shift in what techies want from courses. “They are asking specific questions like how to create a custom ChatGPT version… We are adding content around that such as ChatGPT modules, APIs, etc,” he added.

Coursera has seen tremendous interest in deep learning, machine learning, data science, data management as well as soft skills like management training, said Raghav Gupta, managing director, India and APAC, of the learning platform.