People are looking for comfort today, increasing their dependence on technology. This has opened doors for plenty of opportunities in IoT, says Mubeen Jukaku
Everyone wants a comfortable lifestyle. Wouldn’t you love it if you could switch on the air conditioner before reaching home or turn off the lights even after leaving your home? Everyone is busy catching up with the work that they might miss out on a few things at home in a hurry. Here the Internet of Things (IoT) helps us wonderfully in connecting us with the devices and notifying us about everything at home even when we are at work or anywhere else. We can say that IoT makes our lives simpler and more convenient. It helps you to manage your home more smartly. You can water your garden by sitting in an office with just one tap in your mobile application.
What is IoT?
It is an ecosystem of connected physical devices/objects that are accessible through the internet. IoT is a system of interrelated devices, digital products, objects, people or animals that are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring any human interaction.
The IoT is big and real in terms of everything. However, technologies and standards are still evolving, expected to change more in the coming years. IoT will connect 4 billion people on the planet through multiple devices and applications.
By connecting “things”, IoT will make our lives easier. The new wave of connectivity is going beyond smartphones and laptops by thriving towards connected cars, smart homes, wearables, health care, smart cities, and many more. IoT helps these devices to bridge the gap between physical and digital worlds to improve the quality and productivity of industries, society, and life.
Overview of IoT
With the potential to increase the connectivity of everything, the Internet of Things is changing the way we do things nowadays. The increased pace of IoT adoption in the country will make many sectors like industrial manufacturing, energy, agriculture, utilities, transport, and logistics lead the market.
The Indian market potential of the Internet of Things is likely to reach $ 9 billion by 2020. The IoT units in India can see rapid growth of 31 times to reach $1.9 billion by 2020.
As per the GlobalData, the data and analytics company, the global market potential of the Internet of Things is expected to reach $318 billion at compound annual growth rate of 20 per cent by 2023.
Opportunities
The rise in the number of IoT devices in use has led to a significant increase in the number of IoT jobs as well. The candidates require a combination of skills to ensure a promising career in IoT.
Train in IoT
Knowing the growing need of IoT based skills in the market, the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India (ESSCI), which is set up under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), skill the youth of the country specifically in the electronics domain. The council has been working with the subject matter experts across India to create Qualification Packs (QPs) in accordance with the rising demand of IoT based skills in the market. Therefore, if you are looking forward to making your career in this domain, you can simply take training from the registered training partners of ESSCI that are available pan India.
Understanding the perspective of both Electronics Hardware and Embedded Software, the council has prepared two job-oriented courses (QP’s) in which the candidates can take training and get the job easily in the IoT domain. They are:
IoT Hardware Analyst: This QP primarily takes a complete hardware perspective. For Engineers coming from Electronics and Electrical background, this is an ideal QP if you want to have your career in the hardware aspect of IoT. The QP is designed as a pack of skills that includes Circuit design, Hardware realisation in terms of PCB, Optimisation, Verification and Validation, and System thinking aspects.
The National Skill Qualification Framework level for this job role is five and the minimum educational qualification required to enroll in this job role is Bachelor’s degree in Engineering,
Technology, Statistics, Maths and Computer Science.
Embedded Full-Stack IoT Analyst: This QP primarily takes the software perspective. With a primary focus on Embedded Software design, this QP focuses on skill-building in areas like Embedded programming, Operating Systems, UI development, Debugging, Testing and release of quality software.
This QP also gives very good focus to inculcate engineering best practices. For engineers who are willing to have a career as Design Engineers, this QP would serve as an ideal skill pack.
This job role is covered under the NSQF Level 5 and the minimum educational qualification required is a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering/Technology/Statistics/Mathematics/Computer Science.
The future of IoT is virtually unlimited due to advances in technology and consumers desire to integrate devices such as smartphones with household machines. Networking and connectivity protocols have made it possible to connect people and machines on all platforms. Also, there is so much data travelling from device to device, so security is another key concern that needs to be addressed to keep up with demands.
From an individual’s perspective, IoT will offer excellent career opportunities which need to be harnessed. Only it requires to have the necessary skills that are going to be the key differentiator.
The writer is Technology Head, Emertxe Information Technologies, Training Partner of Electronics Sector Skills Council of India