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By Vijay K Thadani

The last time a family friend, also a parent, asked me whether IT was the career of the next decade, I stared at him nonplused, not certain what to say. After all, did he not read the newspapers? Hadn't he heard that IT jobs were back with a bang? Didn't he know that India was being touted as the next massive IT services and BPO destination? That my salary check came from NIIT, an IT education leader, which had predicted the rise of the Indian IT market over two decades ago?

Now what response did this man expect from me? As far as I was concerned, the answer was an obvious and absolute yes! "In fact, why just the decade. IT could well be the career of this century," I finally informed the ignorant questioner in my most authoritative voice.

But why did I say it?

Vijay K Thadani

In order to explain, I must expand on the word career, which I believe means different things to different people. For some of us, a career means a job. The typical question we all grapple with is "will I get one?" Given our 8.2 percent GDP growth, I don't think this even requires an answer. I doubt whether the educated people of this country will ever face a problem of not finding a job. At the same time, one must make the distinction between building a career and getting a job. A job enables you to deploy acquired skills to earn a certain salary and maintain a standard of living. The word career, meanwhile has different connotations-it spells growth (personal, professional and material), flexibility, opportunities.

Growth in fact, is the key driver of a career. When there is personal growth, you have the ability to learn and improve your future. This ability enables you to build self worth and apply existing skills somewhere else. A career provides individuals with challenges. Most of us wish to do something that is extraordinary--away from the mundane, away from the commonplace. If a job has a challenge, has energy and promotes innovation, you can call it a career. A career offers people flexibility. It allows them the bandwidth to change over and start afresh or even something new. Finally, a career (as opposed to a job), allows people to learn.

In my opinion, IT is the career of the decade because the industry itself will create opportunities that will be unparalleled. Countless business intelligence studies, surveys and reports are pointing to a massive demand-supply gap in the area of skilled professionals within the IT industry. The figures suggest that while there are 8,50,000 IT pros in India as of now, we will actually need six million over the next ten years. What this means is that over ten times more people will be needed over the next decade. I doubt whether the IITs and NIITs and the whole world put together will be able to create the necessary numbers of IT workers.

However, the IT sector has to offer more than just jobs! It has to become a career destination. IT should be able to fulfill all the criteria that go towards making it a good career choice. Let's face it, it is known fact that IT offers people excellent personal, professional and material growth opportunities. I read recently that an IT professional's salary will double every three years, which means it will be ten times the amount it was in the first year and lead to a significant improvement in the standard of living of the individual receiving such a pay packet! There is currently no other profession in the world, where salaries show such a major incline. Clearly, with the IT industry, there is every chance of visible material growth and who among us will not get swayed by this fact alone!

The other thing about IT is that it is a career of the intellect. You are always in a problem solving mode and in the process always getting wiser. IT helps you learn about managing a team and solve problems that have parallels in our daily lives. It is said that IT professionals make better spouses. I can say with conviction (because I see it within NIIT every day) that IT professionals make better mothers! Having learnt to solve team problems in their workplaces, well before they enter parenthood, women are almost prepared to be moms thanks to their IT orientation.

IT also offers people opportunities to learn. In this fast paced, dynamic industry, whatever you learn, can easily be rendered obsolete within six months. With IT, therefore, you are on a constant learning curve and have to continuously skill and reskill yourself. There is no other career in the world, including medicine, that has such a high rate of obsolescence. If I was a doctor, and I didn't read a single book, I could still run a practice for 20 years without getting expelled from the market. In the IT industry, however, if within six months, if you do not change or upgrade your skill sets, you become a nobody. In that sense, the IT sector, with it continuous learning, challenges, the ability to keep people anxious and on their toes, its capability of getting their adrenalin going, keeping their blood pressure high and uplifting their energy levels, is far more exciting than any other profession.

Finally, an IT job also offers people flexibility-they can give it up and take it up again! This is a major advantage, especially where women are concerned, as many have to put their careers on a back burner for a bit to run homes and raise families. The IT sector is the only one which gives women the opportunity of working out of home, of quitting, then starting out again, of working, taking care of the home side and keeping their careers intact. For the teens of today, this is a very important message. IT offers you the flexibility to blend work with family concerns.

Is there another career that offers such a unique blend of opportunities and possibilities? I doubt it!

Vijay K Thadani is Co-founder and CEO of NIIT