About a year ago, a nation-wide lockdown was imposed in India due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Since then, we have witnessed a shift in the lives of people everywhere.
Most of us avoided public gatherings and human contact during this time and chose to have the digital way of life.
Not only that, even the professional world saw a significant shift in its practices, demands, and the way it functions.
From the working style of companies to career opportunities, there has been a massive change in the ecosystem.
While many people lost their jobs as companies faced losses, various skills and roles became irrelevant, some industries witnessed a colossal growth in their team and development, increasing the demand for skilled candidates with relevant knowledge. One such industry is the IT sector.
With the advent of digital life, various IT skills gained popularity, working in favor of those associated with the field, giving them a golden opportunity to upskill and learn.
Some of these skills emerged victorious in these trying times and gained popularity amongst the recruiters in India.
We used Skills Trends to find the most in-demand skills in the industry and found a few that stood out.
In this blog, we will look at four IT platform skills that were able to defy the impact of the pandemic.
1. GCP (Google Cloud Platform)
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a cloud computing service hosted by Google. It is designed to handle a variety of common use cases and is a great skill to learn at this time as there is a high demand for people skilled in the platform.
GCP Cloud Architecture is one of the highest paying IT profiles globally since cross-certified Google Cloud professionals are highly skilled and are most likely to have AWS, Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, and ITIL certifications.
With all these skills to flaunt, those specializing in GCP are highly sought after by the recruiters.
Recruiter searches for candidates skilled in the platform were recorded at 96,980 in February 2021, marking an increase of 149% since February 2020.
2. Azure
Azure is one of the most popular platform skills from the IT sector that stands out in the pandemic. It's a cloud platform that can support existing and new applications, as well as improve them.
It has strong storage capabilities and can be used to create hybrid apps. With the platform being easy to use, the job opportunities for those skilled in Azure have significantly multiplied over the last year.
There is a 90% percent increase in recruiter searches for Azure in the last year, as we recorded 3,31,909 recruiter searches in February 2021, which was almost 1,57,500 more than the previous number in February 2020.
3. AWS
AWS by Amazon is a highly dynamic cloud computing platform and is the world's most widely used cloud platform, providing over 200 services from multiple data centers with millions of customers worldwide.
It is accessible, offers a wide range of tools, has unlimited server capacity, and offers a variety of other features to its users, leading to an increase in demand for AWS engineers who ensure that applications run smoothly.
From small startups to big companies and government agencies, everyone is saving costs and making way for rapid innovation through AWS, making it one of the most popular platform skills.
With the increasing popularity of AWS, IT recruiters are looking for more candidates specializing in AWS.
According to our report, recruiter searches for platform specialists have increased by 85% in the last year, with a whopping 4,35,418 searches in February 2021, compared to the 235,950 recorded in February last year.
4. Openshift
Openshift is an open-source development platform designed by Red Hat that enables developers to create and deploy applications on a cloud infrastructure. It is beneficial in the development of cloud-based services.
It allows you to create and deploy applications to one or more hosts and enables companies to deploy applications, become less decentralized, more interactive, and efficient.
With benefits like quicker innovation, accelerated app development, DevOps collaboration, and self-service provisioning, OpenShift is now a crucial skill, sought after by recruiters.
IT Recruiters conducted 11,649 searches for candidates skilled in OpenShift in February 2021, which was 83% more than the number recorded back in February 2020.
With such staggering growth, it's safe to say that upskilling with OpenShift is a great idea that can increase your chances of landing a great job.
Conclusion
These 4 Platform skills have made a place for them in the IT sector, and with the lockdown, their importance has only grown.
It is also critical to recognise and appreciate the frameworks, tools, programming scripting languages and methodologies that have triumphed over the influence of COVID-19.
With recruiters seeking well-equipped candidates with knowledge of these platforms, it becomes crucial to upskill and learn to find an attractive career opportunity.
All the best!
