The year 2020 is likely to be remembered as the year that changed the lives of many of us, all thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic:(. The global pandemic that wreaked havoc on the global economy also resulted in expediting the digitalization process across different sectors and industries. The long-standing digital transformation is the most encouraging result that will come out of the pandemic.

Remote work became a reality for millions of people across the globe. Cloud computing is helping people and businesses stay connected. Its adoption will increase in years to come and it makes utmost sense to have skills in those areas that will be relevant in the fast-changing technology sector.

Owing to remote working, professionals are finding time to focus on improving their competency by investing time on quality courses. Upskilling has become extremely relevant during the ongoing pandemic [Source]. Developers have a once in life-time opportunity to upskill whilst doing their office work from the comfort of their homes.

Here are some of the top developer courses that will help to stay relevant in the year 2021 [and beyond]:

Cloud Computing

The global cloud market size is expected to grow at a CAGR [Compound Annual Growth Rate] of 12.5 percent during the period 2019 to 2021. Retail and healthcare segments are the biggest contributors to the growth in the global cloud market. Cloud computing has also made significant inroads in the Smart Utilities sector.

An extensive course on Cloud Computing will help you gain an understanding of the nitty-gritty of cloud from both business and practitioner perspectives. Even though you have to play with code on a regular basis, it is important to understand the business case associated with any technology.

Introduction to Cloud by IBM is an ideal course that walks you through the varied aspects of cloud computing. It also digs deep into Virtualization, VMs, Storage, Networking, Containers, and Serverless – the key components of the cloud architecture.

The best part about this free Cloud computing course is that it is self-paced and you get to learn from the brightest minds who have hands-on skills on the technology.

Conversational AI Applications [Chatbots]

There is a high probability that you would have interacted with a chatbot at least once when you are on a banking/e-commerce website. The conversational AI market is growing at a burgeoning pace and the spending on Cognitive and AI systems is predicted to reach $77.6 billion in 2022 [approximately three times the forecast for 2018].

If you are thinking of leveraging chatbots for providing your clients (or customers) with fast and consistent answers across applications; you should give a brief look at Watson Assistant. You can use the cognitive computing power offered by Watson Assistant to build a chatbot without writing a single line of code!

Customer service chatbots are redefining support with AI and the course on introduction to chatbots with a focus on Watson Conversion could be your gateway to gain expertise in the emerging world of conversational AI.

Containers and Kubernetes

When writing blogs for a few of my clients, I got an opportunity to explore the endless possibilities offered by Containers. To start with, Containers are completely different from Virtual Machines [VMs]. I have used Docker Container for Selenium web automation testing and the experience is super awesome! No extra load on the CPU, something which is very much evident when using VMs.

The Docker compose file that uses the YAML format [.yml] makes it easy to spin new containers. Debug variant of container images has VNC Server preinstalled in it, a feature that is useful for web automation testing. When we talk about deploying and scaling containerized applications, Kubernetes immediately comes to mind.

An extensive course that walks you through the essentials of Kubernetes [kubectl commands, Kubernetes objects, etc.], including the ever-expanding Kubernetes ecosystem could be a good place to get started with Kubernetes. The introduction course on Kubernetes and Containers can be further leveraged to run containers, build container images, and more.

Conclusion

The pandemic has put immense focus on upskilling and having the relevant skills are important to stay ahead of the cut-throat competition. Remote working is providing an opportunity for developers where they can take self-paced courses while working on their project work.

Which course did you recently take up and why? Do share your thoughts in the comments section…

Within a few weeks, many workers around the world were forced to trade in their office – with all the benefits of a familiar IT environment, the convenience of having their own desk and personal contact with employees – for the home office.

For companies, this transition also presented challenges on various fronts. In addition to maintaining both ongoing operations and the productivity, efficiency and motivation of employees, some employers decided to hire new employees despite the prevailing crisis. From recruiting to onboarding – alternative processes had to be created for these processes and technologies had to be used to enable them – just like the actual work itself – to be implemented remotely.

Many companies struggled with the politically, economically and socially difficult situation during this period. Just what impact does such a change have on the onboarding of new employees, and what will this process look like in the future?

Secure and consistent

Two factors play a major role with regard to IT when a large number of employees work remotely, ensuring security on one hand and consistent IT usage – or the [digital] employee experience – on the other.

Even if a company assumes that its network is basically resilient, it must be effectively secured against cybercriminal attacks despite several thousand connections. To counteract this, a zero-trust security strategy must be developed and implemented comprehensively across all business units and the entire IT landscape.

While building a resilient infrastructure can prove relatively easy, maintaining a consistent employee experience can prove much more tricky. The modern employee insists that working from home feels and functions just as if he were in his traditional workplace.

Although flexible working has proven its worth in recent months, there is a growing need for the right equipment such as monitors, [ergonomic] office chairs, mice and keyboards. Since most offices will only be used to around 50 percent capacity in the future, any equipment that may have been previously used should be handed out to all teleworkers, so that they are fully equipped and can work as usual.

Onboarding in times of remote work

This experience would vastly vary across organizations. However, in our case, since a portion of the workforce was already teleworking full-time before Corona, the company benefited from existing processes and continued to enhance the onboarding experience.

IT teams as agile ‘product managers’

To gather more insights around remote work, a recent study by us showed that 58 percent of employees surveyed worldwide are confident that their employer needs to provide better tools, so that every employee can work remotely more effectively. 

Even before the pandemic, employees preferred different tools and approaches to perform their daily work. Now, as remote work becomes more widespread, IT teams need to ensure that everyone has access to the technology they trust, including existing and new telecommuters. A ‘product management approach’ can be used to identify these needs. IT professionals, whose primary concerns used to be implementation effort and costs, should adopt a user-centric approach.

Instead of asking whether a project is within budget, they can now find answers to questions like ‘What do my colleagues want? What do they need to get their work done? Where are their biggest pain points?‘. By doing so, they can prevent employees from getting frustrated by using their personal devices and software that have not been approved by the IT department, thus posing an increased security risk.

The use of agile methods can help the IT team to approach a project. To do this, they need to think outside the box and look for working methods that are different from the traditional practices of many IT teams in other areas.

Conclusion

Despite the prevailing crisis situation, it is possible for companies to hire new employees and offer them a simple onboarding process – and all this remotely. Employers must also provide new employees in their home offices with the right technology – both in the form of devices and accessories and software. The home office environment must be made as secure and consistent as possible.

Good virtual onboarding is most successful when you take advantage of the solutions that are available to you. Introductory videos and access to ample digital resources make it easier for new employees to find their way around both the company itself and its IT landscape – even if they have never seen the team in person. For a successful implementation, end user requirements must be given high priority. This often means establishing working methods and practices that differ from traditional ways of working.

About the Author

Ross Chippendale is Head of Workplace Technology, Atlassian. You can find more about him here.

As industries across the world witnessed a dramatic acceleration in the need for digitization, technology-driven companies are now leading the path to a faster recovery globally. The National Association of Software and Services Companies [NASSCOM] launched their report titled ‘Future of Technology Services – Navigating the New Normal‘.

Independent third-party research and analysis was conducted by McKinsey & Company as Knowledge Partners. As per the study, extensive acceleration in digital adoption by enterprises and a potential increase in outsourcing intensity due to remote working are contributing to the faster than expected recovery for the technology services industry. Top Indian technology service providers have performed better than analyst estimates in the second quarter of FY21.

The report highlights that Tech Natives and Digital Reinventors with revenue over USD 3 billion have driven 65% of the ~USD 6 trillion growth in market capitalization between January to July 2020, highlighting that technology is now core to future business recovery.

COVID-19 has accelerated digital adoption across industries, technology service providers are witnessing a sharp growth in digital deals. Digital transformation deals have seen a 30% jump, 80 percent jump in cloud spending, and 15 percent in customer experience have been witnessed since the pandemic.

With an increasing focus on remote enablement, companies are also reporting an increase in the digital dexterity of their employees and are actively reviewing processes to identify opportunities for automation and digitization.

Sharing her thoughts on the report launch, Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM

Over the years, Indian technology services sector has had an unparalleled impact on the economy through a multiplier effect on job creation, balancing import bill through sustainable exports, powering start-ups and driving substantial contribution to GDP growth.

The next 10 years will be fundamentally different from the past and require all stakeholders to develop strategies and insights to identify new opportunities and mitigate the risks. To ensure faster recovery, companies need to develop a two-part response to the evolving landscape: near term plan of action and long-term strategic rethinking.

Sharing his views, Noshir Kaka, Senior Partner and Global Leader, Analytics, McKinsey & Company

Investment in digital re-invention and resilient operations saw a dramatic acceleration since the start of the pandemic. The report suggests that the world has leapfrogged on digital adoption by 3-5 years in the last 9 months. We are seeing an increased emphasis on digitization across verticals and our analysis shows that 80%+ of the near-term spending may be driven by COVID-19 resilient digital offerings.

The strategic gameboard has changed tremendously in the last 9 months and agile companies have made the most of this by reimagining the way they look at growth [microverticals, customer segments, geographies, etc.] and re-wiring their operating models for the new normal.

Enterprises and CIOs are rebalancing their technology spend to prioritize digitization. Major technology services players have reported better results than analyst expectations in the second quarter of FY2021. The technology service providers attributed the revenue growth to cloud and digital offerings and benefits accruing from vendor consolidation by enterprises.

Looking ahead to 2021, however, analysts are cautiously optimistic, especially in the area of enterprise software which is expected to take the biggest leap on the back of remote working and other virtual services.

Certain micro-verticals [e.g. travel, hospitality, heavy engineering] which have been massively affected by the pandemic will also take longer to recovery. Technology service providers will need to actively rebalance their portfolio to play in the high growth microverticals in the next normal.

In the next normal, discussions with enterprise CIOs suggest that 70% of enterprises are looking to either increase or reprioritize their outsourcing spend, with business digitization (including remote enablement) and cloud transformation being the top two spend priorities over the next 12-18 months. Nearly 50% of CIOs will be focusing on efficiency, resilience, and optimizing spend wherever possible.

Further, an increase in enterprise demand for digital technology and the rise of remote working is forcing service providers to revisit their delivery operating model, talent acquisition strategies, and people supply chains. Enterprises are adopting an analytics-driven, recruitment process for improved efficiency and digitizing the recruitment process by using social media profiling, hackathons, video interviews for improved conversion rate and offer to join ratio.

It is estimated that COVID-19 could be one of the pivotal shifts that define the next wave of reimagination for the technology services sector, both on growth and operating model.  However, to achieve the pivot, technology service providers need to remain flexible and maintain pace with the changing times by proactively adapting to new demand themes and buying behaviour, galvanizing operating models, and revamping people supply chains.

The report can be downloaded from here

It’s interesting how everything is getting digitalized and virtual today. It would not be wrong to say that though this year brought in a lot of disruptions, one good thing that has come out of it is the way we are embracing technology and digitalization. This highlights that we are progressing towards a future where everyone and everything will be connected.

Talking about virtual, the age is also witnessing a rise in virtual events. Being invited to quite many virtual events, I was wondering if a virtual event could justify the glory and excitement of a physical event, as there would be no physical interactions or live experiences. But Dell Technologies India has surely cleared it all.

With the first-ever virtual Dell Technologies Forum, Dell has surely reiterated its promise to deliver a glimpse of the digital future along with an immersive event experience. I am glad I was part of this amazing event, getting to know about all the groundbreaking innovations, leaders’ perspectives and so much more.

What really grabbed my interest in the event was the thought-provoking keynote session delivered by Dell Technologies leaders, both global and from India. This 1.5-hour session did not just help me realize where our country stands in the digital frontier but also helped me realize how innovation and emerging technologies can change the world to a much better place. The insights from the leaders are something every business leader needs to delve into, as it will help them realize their digital future.

I was also fascinated with the keynote delivered by John Roese, President & CTO, Dell Technologies, where he mentioned that the IT innovation of the future will rely on technologies such as Hybrid Cloud, 5G, AI, ML, Edge, etc. I believe these technologies are set to overhaul every industry in the country. Aongus Hegarty, President – International Markets also gave a very interesting insight into how Dell Technologies brings in a new strategy to deliver a cloud-like as-a-service experience across its full portfolio – something businesses of all sizes need to look into.

Overall, it was an amazing experience to hear all the Dell leaders underpin the criticality for businesses to adapt to the rapidly digitalizing world and how can they design a simple yet agile IT. And this is how Dell accentuated this year’s forum theme – ‘Accelerated Digital Transformation’.

Looking forward to the breakout sessions to explore more about how innovation can help in building the road ahead. Some interesting line-ups that intrigued me are – enhancing remote work strategy, how to keep endpoints secure, and simplifying AI. Can’t wait to listen to what the industry leaders have to say.

There is also an interesting fireside chat with none other ‘The Wall’ of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid. Waiting to hear him talk about his amazing journey. And not to forget, the event is going to conclude with a soulful session with fusion singer Papon. I am sure the rest of the event is going to be even more exciting.

If you want to know what happening, check out Dell Technologies Twitter and Facebook to get all the updates. You can also take part in an interesting contest and win some exclusive Dell goodies.

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and don’t miss out on the information galore!

Grinntech executed an MoU with the Government of Tamil Nadu which outlines the Company’s intent to establish a Battery and Battery Management System manufacturing facility in the state of Tamil Nadu to cater to the anticipated growth of Electric Vehicles [EVs] in India.

Grinntech, which has attracted several industry veterans as investors since its incubation at IIT-Madras Research Park, already operates its R&D and pilot manufacturing facility in Chennai. In addition, the Company has outlined plans for outlay of almost Rs. 100 Crores for R&D, product development and production facilities which will lead to the employment of 250 staff over the next five years.

The company has showcased a range of high-tech Lithium-Ion batteries, along with their proprietary Battery Management Systems, suitable for 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, light vehicles and farm tractors. The company is engaged in discussions with a number of OEM manufacturers and fleet operators for supply of Batteries and related systems.

Puneet Jain, Co-Founder of Grinntech, said

We are grateful to the Government of Tamil Nadu for their vision in attracting investment in the fast-growing EV and EV-component sectors. Chennai has had the label of ‘Detroit of the East’. Now, as the global auto industry shifts to electrification, this initiative by the Government of Tamil Nadu will help India’s EV industry be future-ready.

About Grinntech

Grinntech is an investor-backed, growth-phase start-up, specialising in Lithium-Ion batteries for EVs and energy storage systems along with our proprietary BMS and connectivity systems. Our product range has established new standards in safety, intelligent controls, energy-density, power-management, long life, and reliability. Apart from a range of standard products, we also undertake custom battery development for customers in India and abroad. Grinntech works closely with leading global technology companies and cell suppliers, bringing cutting-edge advances in semiconductor, materials, cell-chemistry and formats. 

After a successful launch in Japan, Japanese tech startups Bitgrit and Atrae brings their professional job ‘matching’ app in India. The Yenta app will allow professionals and employers to ‘swipe right’ to the profiles of their interest.

Under the initiative, the company is also inviting data scientists from around the world for an online competition – ‘SwipeToSuccess‘ – to submit their optimization models for the app. Starting today, the competition will be accepting the optimization algorithms for the next 69 days – until October 31, 2020.

The competition kick-started on August 24 and will be accepting optimization algorithms for the next 69 days [till October 31, 2020]. The top five submissions will be rewarded with cash prizes totaling USD 10,000 [nearly Rs. 7.4 lakh].

Global data science platform Bitgrit has collaborated with Atrae, a Japanese internet company, to launch their professional job ‘matching’ and networking application – Yenta app – to bridge the talent gap in India. The joint initiative will allow professionals to connect and engage with hiring managers for jobs in India and Japan.

Under the initiative, the company is also inviting data scientists from around the world for an online competition – ‘SwipeToSuccess’ – to submit their optimization models for the app. The idea is to build a model to predict the level of compatibility of a pair of users based on their profiles – and ensure that the app recommends the most linked and suitable profiles to the users.

Toshiyuki Oka, CTO of Atrae Corporation, said

We are pleased to announce the launch of Yenta in India as our first base for global expansion in collaboration with Bitgrit. India’s data science community is inevitably going to grow in the future. With this competition, we aim to tap the potential of data scientists and expand the services provided by the Yenta app across India.

Commenting on the launch, Tetsuro Masunaga, Co-founder & CEO of Bitgrit, said

We are pleased to partner with Atrae for the expansion of their Yenta app to India and this online AI competition to improve the app’s profile-matching algorithm. This partnership will strengthen Bitgrit’s data science community and provide a platform to showcase their domain skills in emerging technologies.

The mobile application, which was first launched in Japan in 2016, aims to connect professionals in the IT space. It currently has users from over 20,000 companies where professionals can network, get a job, engage with industry experts and founders for partnerships. The cross-industry platform will enable employers to spot and hire skilled talent and also interact with other business owners.

The professionals and employers registered on the Yenta app can ‘swipe right’ on a suitable match and chat with them if the other user also likes the profile.

The ongoing pandemic has created a massive job loss as businesses came to a grinding halt. As per the data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy [CMIE], the urban unemployment rate in India stood at 9.15% in June – higher than rural unemployment.

Masunaga added

This initiative is even more relevant now with the coronavirus-induced economic crisis that has severely impacted businesses, thereby triggering unemployment on a large scale.

The application is available for both iOS and Android users. The details of the competition can be viewed here.

Code Gladiators is the annual coding extravaganza hosted by TechGig and felicitated with Guinness World record and Limca Book record for its massive participation. Code Gladiators celebrated its seventh edition this year, and the first one to have a virtual grand finale.

TechGig Code Gladiators 2020 edition was announced in March and saw swarming participation by developers – both Indian and international – despite the COVID-19 situation. Himanshu Singh won the 165-day long competition in a nail-biting coding finale. The finale rounds for coding and theme hackathons were held on August 8 and 9, respectively. From August 9 – 13, leaders from the participating companies evaluated and judged the finalists to select the winners.

Himanshu Singh – the newly crowned coding champion of the world’s biggest coding competition – TechGig Code Gladiators 2020, said

Everybody has that one significant achievement in life which he cites as his ‘biggest win’; for me winning Code Gladiators 2020 will be ‘that biggest win‘.

TechGig Code Gladiators 2020 had four theme hackathons – namely, UiPath RPA hackathon, Times Internet Multi-Label Classification, Microsoft Hack on Azure and IBM Call for Climate Change. Theme hackathons are usually centered on finding business solutions to real-world problems. This year the last two hackathons were specifically focussed at finding tech solutions to combat COVID-19.

Explaining more details about the competition, Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig, said

In March 2020, we sensed the COVID-19 situation could slip out of hands, and very quickly we decided to have a grand virtual conclusion to our mega hackathon. We were staring at a mammoth challenge to bring the grandeur of a worldwide recognized event to the virtual format and ensure that all our 2.52 lakh+ participants get a slice of this event.

I’m happy to share that we’ve been able to live up to all our expectations. We had a few international participants as well, which makes me think that maybe the virtual mode is better than the offline mode.

International participants Ahmed Makki and Yurasik Ol participated at Code Gladiators for the first time. Ahmed Makki was jubilant about making it to the finals in his maiden attempt. ‘I feel the virtual mode is better because had that event been held in its usual offline format then I would not have been able to participate owing to visa and COVID-19 restrictions‘.

Talking about the virtual aspect of grand finale event Pourab Karchaudhuri – runners up at theme hackathon Multi-Label Classification, and a theme winner at Code Gladiators 2019 said

The mood and tone of Code Gladiators don’t flicker. The experience is cool considering everything is online and extremely well managed. As for Lucknow boy Himanshu Singh, the journey has just started. He has recently joined an IT firm and hopes to do his best at his new job.

The coding champion took home Rs 3 Lakhs and the theme champions won Rs 1,50,000. Collectively, all winners took home prizes worth Rs 50 Lakhs.

All winners’ details are available at https://www.techgig.com/codegladiators