For many working in the information technology and ITeS space, data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence are the new buzzwords. Much used, but rarely understood. However, the past year has seen this scenario change as more and more employees realise that upskilling oneself in these fields will open many doors.
According to reports, the number of analytics jobs has increased by 76 per cent between 2017 and 2018 alone, and there are still at least 76,000 vacancies in these fields. For instance, the banking and financial services segment has seen the maximum demand for data science professionals, with close to 40 per cent of jobs in the field coming from this sector alone, followed by e-commerce. This rapidly rising demand for upskilling has resulted in a boom for companies such offering courses. And where demand goes, investors follow.
A few months ago, Imarticus Learning raised Series B funding to the tune of $2 million. This comes after its $1 million round in 2016 and a $700,000 seed round in 2013. Simplilearn, another education startup, has received a total funding of $31 million from four rounds and has raised another $3 million through debt last year. Bootstrapped edWisor, meanwhile, is planning to go for a funding round early next year.
The segment is rising with players like Coursera, Simplilearn, Imarticus Learning, edWisor and Udemy, offering a stream of courses in data analytics, cyber security, and programming languages. The price for these can range anywhere between Rs10,000 to Rs 2 -3 lakh depending upon the degree of specialisation.
So much has demand in this space risen that IT-centred courses are becoming the bread-and-butter for many of these firms. “We do see the number of students taking the courses for data science, analytics, AI, ML, cyber security and deep learning increasing each month. Our revenues have grown by 167 per cent from the last year,” says Nikhil Barshikar, Founder and MD at Imarticus Learning, adding, “Not only lower or mid level professionals, but senior and top management are also enrolling for these courses.”
Coursera India’s ‘Most Popular Courses of 2018’ list also affirms this trend, with tech courses comprising 80 per cent of the top ten list. India is the second largest market for Coursera with over 3.7 million learners, where an additional 75 thousand learners are added every month.
According to Raghav Gupta, Director, Coursera India and APAC, “tech skills will continue to remain at the core, while we’ll see a greater focus on overall development as well” since technology is playing a transformative role in the way we work. Krishna Kumar, CEO, Simplilearn, agrees.
However, while many are opting to take these courses, the question is how many are absorbed by the industry, experts note. Ramandeep Arora, Founder, edWisor says these firms throw buzzwords around to attract consumers. “What actually needs to be done is get proper information on how many people are required in these domains. Only then can the right balance be achieved,” he concludes.
Fields in high demand
Artificial Intelligence and Python programming topped Coursera India’s most popular courses of 2018, with tech courses comprising 80 per cent of the top ten list.