Yes, the world has stopped. We are living through scary and uncertain times. Millions of people find themselves stuck at home for the foreseeable future. While businesses across the globe scramble to move their operations online and stay afloat. In this climate of uncertainty, economists and global institutions are telling us to brace for the worst crisis since 2008; some say even worse. Workers are losing their jobs, and whole activity sectors are freezing new hires.
If you were in the middle of a job hunt when all this started, nobody would blame you for becoming discouraged by the current situation. Or perhaps your current IT projects have been put on hold and you are fear you might not be able to find new ones anytime soon.
Well, we have a message for you — don’t surrender. There is still plenty you can do.
Thriving amid adversity
At the same time that industries like commercial aviation are going through the darkest days of their history, other businesses are thriving. From entertainment platforms and social networks to online retail and videoconferencing services, some companies are simply very well-positioned to take advantage of our society’s sudden change of habits. Even too well-positioned in some cases.
Enterprise cloud companies are experiencing lag and connectivity issues, while streaming services have had to downgrade their video quality to cope with the traffic increase. Meantime retailers are hiring in mass to meet the demand for online shopping and home deliveries. You can focus your job search on those sectors that are thriving in the middle of this chaos. There are plenty.
You can also join the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19 by collaborating with the many technological initiatives now underway — from 3D-printed ventilators to AI and data modelling.
A global thirst for IT specialists
The coronavirus outbreak has prompted a lot of companies to undergo light-speed digital transformation. Classes are going online, telemedicine is now a real thing, and you can visit museum exhibits through your laptop.
All of these organisations need skilled IT talent like yours. A recent study by London’s Imperial College suggests that, only in the UK alone, 48% of companies will prioritize technology hiring in the coming months.
Additionally, the soaring numbers of employees working remotely is accentuating an already existing problem: the cybersecurity skills shortage. If you have security experience or are thinking of obtaining some, now it’s the time.
The world has stopped: Gain new skills, take a closer look at your career
When was the last time you had so much time? Only the hours saved by not having to commute should be enough for you to benefit from the current situation.
Tons of free learning resources are available online these days, from coding bootcamps to university classes in all sorts of topics. Some eLearning portals like MasterClass have even started offering free courses for those at home because of to the pandemic. You can also develop your skills with a certain technology by using free official resources like openSAP or Microsoft Learn.
On the other hand, it’s not always that we get the chance to stop for a moment and re-evaluate our career’s direction while the world has stopped. Are you happy with what you currently do, or perhaps is it time to embrace other passions? Is there something you could do or improve on to advance your career?
