Professionals from IT, non-IT sectors sign up for data analytics

Shivakumar C S (name changed), a Chennai-based professional with a technology firm, did not mind spending nearly Rs 5 lakh for his data science course. He felt it was essential for his career progression even after spending one-and-a-half decade as a banker.

In his current role, Shivakumar focused on banking analytics and finds work more interesting than the previous one.

Take the case of Shayak Das (name changed). A Bengaluru-based techie with nearly nine years of experience, he says doing a short-term course on cloud computing was as important as going on a monthly cycling trek.

Das, who worked with a couple of IT services firms and later with a product company, felt having the right skills on cloud was essential for the work he does. He paid Rs 11,000 upfront for a one-month course and never bothered whether the employer might bear the cost.

Examples are plenty. Thousands of professionals both from IT and non-IT sectors across cities in India are enrolling for data analytics courses.

Of the 71,000 professionals who signed up for such courses at Simplilearn during the past one year, a large chunk opted for courses on data analytics and big data. At least three-fourths are IT professionals.

As the IT services industry foresees a shift in business towards digital and services delivery through technologies such as cloud, more professionals look to gain new skills in digital technology-based projects.

Data science is one of the most lucrative ones and professionals with 8-15 years of experience from different sectors are enrolling for data science courses as they see the current roles on jobs varying from banking to manufacturing or software maintenance are getting automated faster.

“I realised the kind of work I do can soon get automated. That is when I opted for data science for a better future,” says Shivakumar.

Mohan Lakhamraju, founder and CEO, Great Learning, says he has seen “three-fold rise” in enrolment during the past one year. He believes IT firms, in particular, are “hiring more people than they are laying off, but they are hiring in new roles as the nature of work is changing”.

“While we hear two prominent Indian banks have created a list of 16,000 employees to train them in data science, we have 100-150 senior employees on an average from IT services companies such as TCS, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, IBM, Capgemini, Infosys and others,” he says.

Kashyap Dalal, chief business officer, Simplilearn, says the company has seen enrolment driven by both employers and employees.

“Employees are coming to do such courses from a career point of view.

“There is definitely a transition in terms of the projects IT companies are getting such as cloud movement of IT infrastructure and doing more work on cybersecurity. And that translates into more demand for data analytics courses,” says Dalal.

Other courses in demand include cloud computing, machine learning and digital marketing. Lakhamraju says data science courses at Great Learning include offline and online sessions with two-three monthly classroom sessions and during a 12-month course, for four-five months candidates work on a real-life project and solve critical business problems that can help in career progression.

Data science course durations vary from three to 12 months across online and offline institutions and the fees range between Rs 2.5 and Rs 4 lakh.

Hyderabad and Bengaluru-based Insofe or International School of Engineering has close to 60 per cent candidates from IT services firms, out of 1,500 enrolled for data analytics.

Santhosh Kumar, manager, business development, Insofe, says the average work experience of these candidates are 11 years and they vary between 0 and 20 years.

Course correction

* 100-150 professionals on an average from six-seven IT services firms enrolled for data science courses in the past one year

* Self-enrolment by employees from IT and non-IT is on the rise

* Overall a “three-fold” rise in enrolments for Great Learning

* Of 71,000 digital courses given by Simplilearn, a big chunk is on data science

* Employee rush to take such training as many find their jobs being automated

While Insofe is an official analytics training partner for one of the prominent IT services firms, companies such as Honeywell and Flipkart have nominated their employees to take data analytics courses.

What makes data analytics a more interesting career option is the Indian government’s digital drives and Aadhaar enablement of services.

“With new trends like demonetisation and Aadhaar being made compulsory, the government opening up APIs and sharing information, there is so much more information and data science has bigger opportunity. The shift in its acceptance is seen towards a lot of traditional companies from social media and Internet companies. Data analytics itself is going to become an industry,” says Dalal.