What skill set young graduates, professionals need to join the 5G industry

Representative Image (Illustration by Suneesh Kalarickal)

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has said 5G is like a digital Kamdhenu, the heavenly cow that grants whatever we desire. The technology would help in accelerating India's growth by making the country a $40-trillion economy by 2047, he said.

The wheel for this journey has already started gaining momentum. With the rollout of 5G services, job portal Monster.com saw an encouraging trend in telecom jobs with hiring rising 13 percent. The key players are launching digital services in different cities, expanding data centre capabilities and hiring for specialised roles.

Amid the buzz, Moneycontrol declutters the nitty gritty of skills required for the 5G industry and how talent can enter and transition to it.

Trending skills

More than 150,000 jobs in 5G, cloud computing, AI & big data analytics, IoT, mobile app development, and robotic process automation were combinedly sought in the last year; the demand-supply gap is nearly 28 percent, as per the Telecom Sector Skill Council.

As India enters the 5G era, Arjun Mohan, CEO-India of edtech major upGrad, feels India is diving into a pool of opportunities with roles almost doubling from the past quarter.

“Along with hiring 5G tech talents in the telecom and mobility sectors, the talent competition also includes semiconductor majors, technology behemoths, startups, and the automotive industry,” he says.

Tech professionals in high demand include radio frequency (RF ) system architects and engineers, artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) developers, experts in 5G ORAN (Open Radio Access Network) architecture, and user experience (UX) designers and testers, Mohan adds.

Mobile Edge Computing is another area that will be in big demand in the 5G era. “With almost everyone using the cloud to store data for personal and business use, the telecom operators are trying to bring the cloud closer to the edge of the network and the users,” says Maninder Singh Bajwa, CEO and founder of edtech firm iScuela.

How can young graduates become part of the 5G industry?

With a projected contribution to the global GDP of $1.3 trillion, 5G is set to bring multiple job openings across domains. And young graduates have ample opportunities to make and solidify their place in the industry.

Graduates must look at skilling themselves in the areas of programming, specifically Java, Python and MSSQL, cybersecurity, big data, cloud computing and IoT, according to Sachin Alug, CEO of staffing firm NLB Services.

Apart from this, upGrad observed that security architecture design, AI, algorithms and machine learning algorithms, network architecture design, and maintenance of network architecture will continue to dominate the industry.

“Young professionals must focus on developing capabilities for deploying, maintaining, supporting and upgrading systems,” Alug says.

Experts say telecom and tech industry gaints have a lot of student training and internship opportunities which the graduates can avail by undergoing a process of interviews or exams.

“By opting for these, the freshers can not only gain on-the-job experience but can also get a chance of earning a stipend and a 'Trainee' stature, which will help them in future work prospects in the 5G world,” highlights R P Yadav, CMD of HR firm Genius Consultants.

How can professionals, part of erstwhile tech, become part of the 5G industry?

Experts say most of the telecom operators in India have already designed and deployed their 4G systems with 5G competent equipment. Hence, to initiate the launch of the 5G process, Yadav feels a basic technological upgradation will be enough to swap their functional modes from 3G/4G to 5G for 50 percent of the total work sites.

“While the remaining 50 percent will be looking to expand from 4G to 5G. To cope up, we have to upskill, reskill and train our existing manpower,” he says.

To start the process, firstly, Yadav says there are training institutes where they can enrol, learn and upskill themselves about 5G technology. “Secondly, companies like Jio, Nokia, Ericsson, Airtel, and even tech organisations like Cisco, Apple, Tech Mahindra and TCS are organising training within the organisation to upskill and reskill their employees who are already experienced with telecom.”

Some courses include the 5G Certification Programme by Nokia Bell Labs and NII, TCS iON Career Edge, and IBM’s 5G at the Edge.

Companies are looking towards either bringing in skilled trainers for their employees or enrolling their eligible employees in various training institutes for skill and technological development.

Besides, Yadav predicts poaching and approaching skilled manpower from competitors and other countries are also going to take place.

“Even the senior management needs to get acquainted with the new possibilities so that they can create use cases in their respective business to leverage 5G,” adds iScuela’s Bajwa.

Disclosure: MoneyControl is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.