Five tech skills make up 78% of hiring demands across industries: Report

A Quess report finds upward hiring trends in India's IT hubs as well as Tier I & II cities as remote work options become available in Q1FY24

The first quarter of the ongoing financial year 2023-24 (Q1FY24) has seen a surge in demand for tech skills such as development, SAP, automotive design, testing, and infra support, among others, reveals a skilling report by Quess Corp. The report also finds that companies across industries have adopted upskilling as a strategy to bridge the emerging skill gap in India.

 

Methodology

 

Quess Corp is a business solutions provider that has launched "The Skills Report". This report offers insights into the technology skills that are in most demand from companies across industries in India. This report is based on Quess IT staffing's operations data, which maps demand and supply in the talent ecosystem. The report focuses on the quantum of demand in Q1FY24.

 

Five tech skills make up 78 per cent of demand

 

The report found that the "highest intent to hire" was in development roles (28 per cent), especially those with skills in more than 65 technical proficiencies and platforms.

 

Full stack skills showed the most consistent and upward trend, especially within the consulting, automotive, banking, and telecom sectors. The demand for SAP (16 per cent) expertise has also remained consistently high, encompassing both development and implementation aspects.

 

Demand for all these proficiencies was particularly high within the consulting and global capability center (GCC) client domains.

 

Another desired talent was for automotive design at 14 per cent, in both global and domestic automobile sectors. This is due to the increasing adoption of digitisation and the need for more technologically adept skills. There has also been an increase in demand for testing skills (12 per cent) in both manual and automated domains. The Quess report notes a "pronounced demand" for Selenium, TOSCA, Workday, and ServiceNow proficiencies.

 

IT infrastructure support skills have also witnessed consistent demand at eight per cent across several industries in L1 and L2 support, spanning a diverse range of over 30 aspects. The report also observed a substantial demand for proficiencies such as data science, DevOps, cloud, ERP, cyber security, artificial intelligence, machine learning, UI/UX and other related domains.

 

Vijay Sivaram, the CEO of Quess IT Staffing commented on the demand for talent, "Our nation is currently at the forefront of global technology advancements, benefiting from the best demographic play and a highly educated STEM Talent Pool. The Indian stock markets continue to outperform, reflecting the confidence of investors in our thriving tech sector. As we witness substantial infrastructure changes all around us, foreign institutional investments (FIIs) are pouring funds into India, bolstering our economy."

 

Industry-wise tech skill demand

 

Not surprisingly, the IT sector has the highest demand for tech skills at 15 per cent, followed by banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) at 15 per cent, and digital engineering at 13 per cent.

 

Other industries embracing technological solutions included the telecom and healthcare sectors.

 

Moreover, as the world is shifting toward renewable energy, the oil & gas sectors are also turning to digital solutions to remain competitive. This includes finding new revenue streams, increasing production, and driving down overall costs. Advanced technologies such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, and the industrial internet of things (IoTs) are also enabling companies to optimise previously complex processes and respond more effectively to volatility, shocks, and disruptions.

 

Active hiring at IT hubs

 

Hiring activity across India was primarily dominated by IT Hubs in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Haryana.

 

Remote working options and improved data services have enabled an increase in hiring across Tier 2 and 3 cities, particularly in e-commerce and financial services firms. The report adds that Quess has been able to deploy associates in cities such as Jaipur, Coimbatore, Indore, Kochi, Gulmarg, Siliguri and more.

 

Commenting on the landscape for tech hiring, Sivaram said, "Amid macroeconomic headwinds affecting the US and Europe, the IT services sector faces a downward hiring trend of 25-30 per cent. However, this situation has opened up new opportunities, with GCCs ramping up talent acquisition and projecting an estimated employee strength of 1.4 million. Hiring is likely to increase by 10 per cent. Our nation is currently at the forefront of global technology advancements, benefiting from the best demographic play and a highly educated STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) talent pool."