While we wish for the COVID-19 pandemic to end soon, we understand that it has made lasting effects on the way we interact with other people, the way we view our health, and the way we work. As we look forward to the future, we want to be more prepared, change-adept, and resilient so that we won’t be as unaware or as helpless as to how this pandemic caught us.
The pandemic has become a tipping point for many of us to reconsider our options. Many of us ask, “Am I pursuing a career or college course that would eventually be rendered useless or obsolete?” As we now can observe, the pandemic has introduced shifts in our behavior that also created new needs and demands for governments, schools, and businesses. The shift to the new normal demands expertise that can only be filled in by new and emerging disciplines that we thought we didn’t really need a few years ago. According to the World Economic Forum, the “job of tomorrow” is about maximizing the potential in the interaction between “humans, machines, and algorithms.” For those looking for a sensible course to take in college or for new career options, you might want to consider some of the insights here that would help you and the people around you to make significant progress in the post-pandemic world.
1. Digital Marketing
The pandemic gave all the reasons for companies to go digital, especially in their sales and marketing. According to the COVID-19 Digital Engagement Report by Twilio, the pandemic broke down the traditional barriers of getting executive buy-in, lack of clear strategy, and lack of budget to push through with their digital transformation.
With the lockdowns during the pandemic, the market has nowhere else to go but online. Accordingly, companies have nowhere else to go but where their market is. Companies that invest in their digital transformation have been more resilient during the pandemic and are poised to enjoy market preference in the long run due to their responsiveness to their customers’ needs.
The World Economic Forum projects digital marketing to be an even more relevant field in the post-pandemic economy. We will see the rise in demand for the following:
- Social Media Managers
- Content Creators
- SEO Specialists
- Website Designers and Developers
- Software and Applications Developers
Communication, Information Design, and IT graduates are seen to benefit from the rising demand for their expertise in the current and emerging economy. While colleges and universities offer courses in Communication, Advertising, and Business, among other related fields, there are schools that offer multi-disciplinary courses that combine the traditional with emerging hybrid disciplines.
STI College, known for its IT programs, started offering a four-year Bachelor of Science in Retail Technology and Consumer Science and a two-year Associate in Retail Technology in 2020. These courses were co-designed with industry experts in order to equip students with in-demand specialized skills in the areas of retail marketing, consumer psychology, information technology, and data science ― key areas that STI College believes to be the competencies for success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“In the academic sector, this retail revolution has made us keenly aware of the need to equip our graduates for more lucrative job and business opportunities in retail and e-commerce. Elsewhere in the world, colleges and universities in countries such as the United States, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, South Africa, and Singapore are now offering retail management programs in line with this vision,” shares Aisa Q. Hipolito, STI Vice President for Academics.
2. Data Science and Analytics
The post-pandemic economy will be largely data-driven. While there has been an exponential increase in the demand for Data Scientists and Analysts even prior to the pandemic, the crisis itself has highlighted the relevance of data-driven strategies both for the public and private sectors. Corporate and government leaders and managers now heavily rely on data to fuel their decision making.
In the Philippines alone, there has been a shortage of data scientists and analysts to support the growth of industries through the use of data, automation, and Artificial Intelligence, especially in the retail sector. The government, through the Department of Science and Technology, has been encouraging young Filipinos to take up data science related courses in order to bridge the shortage of data scientists in the country.
According to iACADEMY School of Computing Dean, Mitch Andaya, “there’s an increasing demand for data scientists in virtually every industry in the Philippines. Our country produces about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily and we need help from data scientists to make sense out of this much data.”
Most major universities in the Philippines, including Ateneo De Manila University, De La Salle University, University of the Philippines, and University of Sto. Tomas have general data science subjects in the tertiary level. However, schools such as iACADEMY offer specialized courses on data science to directly address the emerging needs of both local and international industries. iACADEMY’s Bachelor of Science in Computer Science major in Data Science program was launched in 2020 to help the country cultivate more world-class professionals in software development, systems and business analysis, database administration, software testing, web development.
3. Cybersecurity
A number of business leaders forecast that remote work is here to stay even after the pandemic. With this shift, they foresee that most companies would follow suit and invest heavily on their cloud infrastructure, online collaborative tools, and e-commerce. With the conveniences ushered in by these tech enhancements, companies that migrate most of their resources online and shift to more tech-driven operations should also expect to brace for tech-related problems such as cybersecurity.
According to Forbes, healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, transportation, and government are the industries that are most exposed to cyberattacks. We cannot afford data breaches and system hijacks in these industries, especially when they largely affect the safety and security of people’s lives.
Through the Department of Information and Communication Technology’s National Cybersecurity Plan 2022, the Philippines recognizes the need for more cybersecurity experts as part of the government’s mission to “ensure public safety and welfare.” As most companies and schools are just adapting to the emerging cybersecurity needs of both local and international industries, the Philippine government encourages more young Filipinos to also consider taking ICT-related courses, which are also largely offered by ICT-specialized schools such as STI and iAcademy.
It is noticeable that the projected in-demand jobs of the future are more tech-related and focus on developments such as remote work, e-commerce and automation. McKinsey’s study projects that more people may see the need to switch careers due to the changes in working conditions during and after the pandemic. We may be among these people who need to consider a more sustainable career path. By considering those previously mentioned, we may see ourselves more adapted to the new normal.
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