India’s tech industry has quietly been reshaping itself, and the biggest shockwave of all is hitting new grads.
We recently reported how entry-level tech hiring has declined by nearly a quarter thanks to the heavy reliance on AI-driven operations.
Reading the report by Moneycontrol that outlined how companies are increasingly moving to a diamond-shaped workforce, I felt it was an indicator of how slippery the ground is getting under everyone’s feet.
What were once bread-and-butter jobs for newcomers – support agents, gigs coding software, job-shop machinists - can increasingly be performed by an AI that conducts multimove workflows at warp speed.
The more I pored over the EY workforce report, the clearer it seemed: Companies are not just automating tasks, they’re re-designing jobs entirely.
And the unasked question hums in company boardrooms everywhere: if AI can do the basics, who do we need on day one?
But there’s a catch – it’s not all bad news. While I perused a study on India’s readiness for AI by the Carnegie Endowment, it crossed my mind how much space is still left for human expertise in AI, particularly for those who are prepared to combine creativity with an understanding of AI tools.
They are the new stars, not because they replace machines but because they know how to make them work better.
New talent can certainly get there as well, but only if they are willing to evolve faster than the job descriptions.
There’s another dimension that keeps nagging at me: future leadership. Some executives quoted throughout the Moneycontrol analysis fret about losing what they call the “apprentice layer.”
At the end of 10 years, when those young professionals are more experienced - well who exactly is the seasoned professional if fewer young folks have entered the system? That’s a legitimate fear – and one that automation can’t address on its own.
Yet I can’t shake the feeling that this is not the end of the road, but a recalibration. Those who step in with curiosity, with a willingness to play around even if they don’t have mastery over the tools and take imperfect first steps toward something new might discover doors others don’t even see.
And companies, whether or not they acknowledge it at this stage, are going to want those people – but not just so their AI engines keep running; rather because they need them to keep their organisations human.