Re-skilling is in. With the advent of 5G and newer mobile technologies, businesses and government organizations are rethinking the way IT jobs need to be filled. 5G promises that it will change our lives, but the new mobile tech may also create a larger divide with the tech skills gap. CompTIA’s research report “Assessing the Skills Gap” states that 60 percent of large enterprises believe the skills gap will only grow in the future, and 40 percent of American employers state they can’t find employees with the skills they need. The Wireless Infrastructure Association’s white paper “Getting Ready for 5G: Preparing a Skilled Workforce for Future Wireless Networks” writes that there is a need for on-the-job training and online education to create that expertise in the workforce.
5G is the fifth generation of wireless that will help increase the speed and capacity of wireless networks. This means that users can enjoy new immersive experiences, faster speed, and bigger scale in outdoor areas including cars and trains. You can expect 5G to roll out within the next few years, starting in residential spaces and moving into select cities.
Businesses are quickly getting employees ready for these changes in technology. GCN even writes that 5G has the potential to bring a revolution to the government and its citizens. Amazon announced it will be spending $700 million over the next six years to retrain a third of their US workforce. The voluntary training for 100,000 of its workers will provide education to help employees move to new roles. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) in India states that 40 percent of India’s total workforce needs to be re-skilled over the next five years to prepare for new technologies like 5G, AI, IoT, machine learning, and more. India’s IT company Tech Mahindra added that it is investing heavily in reskilling employees for 5G and other future technologies.
Cisco’s Networking Academy (NetAcad) is also working to skill people for current and future jobs. Launched more than twenty years ago, the education program provides online and classroom education for those looking to gain knowledge in IT, networking, security, Internet of Things, and more. So far, NetAcad has skilled and reskilled more than 9.2 million students in 180 countries, and the program looks to educate even more in the future. At the 2018 Global Citizen Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, Cisco made a commitment to preparing and training 10 million students worldwide over the next five years.
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