Emerging courses: IoT and social media

The concept of IoT is not new. The idea of adding sensors and intelligence to objects was started way back in the 1990s. Over the years, IoT has become a revolutionary concept that has already connected billions of things and it is getting bigger and better. According to the predictions of IDC, there will be a total of 41.6 billion connected IoT devices by 2025.

With the extensive applications of IoT in products and services, the quality of life is transforming while driving digital growth in the country. Witnessing the tremendous job prospects in diverse verticals, mainly – transportation, logistics, healthcare, and manufacturing, students are taking up IoT to pursue their career. Undoubtedly, IoT education is a must-have in any digital social media programme as an emerging skill set in the global education sector.

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There are now redefined programmes that students may refer such as PGP in Digital Social Media and IoT. Students need to give preference to course curriculum over the name of any institute or university.

For instance, the initial levels of customer services and lead gen operations are already being taken care by BOTS and Artificial Intelligence. Yet such activities are driven by digital marketing campaigns. PGP provides the understanding of IoT along with its industry-specific applications, also, how Artificial Intelligence(AI), Virtual Reality(VR) and Augmented Reality(AR) are becoming highly efficient in running businesses and making them more profitable.

The aim through PGP in digital/social media and IoT is to provide the much needed new-gen skill set and make the future professionals automation-ready for the future. Such courses start from Rs 5 lakh for a two-year programme. The fee structure varies from university to university.

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These are specialised courses that give on the best returns to the students on the fees. With these courses, students get an advantage of a career-centric progression (not just job-centric) with pay starting from 35-40K per month initially and giving impressive increments later.

Top Indian and international universities – many international and Indian universities are offering dedicated courses to be an IoT specialist. The most prominent universities offering specialised IoT courses are Beijing — Dublin International College (Engineering bachelor’s degree in IoT), The University of Alcalá located in Madrid (intensive IoT master’s program), Florida International University (Bachelor’s degree in IoT), and Royal Holloway, University of London (Master’s degree in IoT) University of Bradford England (M.Sc. in IoT), and many among others.

According to BIF report IoT and AI to create 2.8 million jobs in Rural India in 10 years. According to Forbes report AI and IoT to create 58 million New Jobs worldwide by 2022. So finding a job will not be a challenge for kids but the real challenge in this sunrise (IoT) sector is in finding the human resources who can handle the project strategy to implementation and are able to connect the dots with business relevance. This skillset is beyond the technical ability of a resource; however, it lies in the ability to understand consumer behaviour and mapping its needs with a functional understanding of any technology.

— The author is lead, learning and development at iMET Global