B.Sc Data Science Expected to Dominate Engineering Courses: Experts
Experts believe that the Coronavirus pandemic has provided the perfect launching pad for AI, Blockchain Technology, E-Commerce and Machine Learning which might usher the end of the vanilla engineering degrees.
Coronavirus has infected millions of people globally and research regarding technology or model to trace those who have contracted this ungodly virus is being continually done as the research regarding finding a cure to this deadly disease. This pandemic has propelled researchers to rely heavily on Artificial Intelligence and Data Science for both treatment purpose and for identification of infected patients which is taking us towards a new post-COVID world where data scientist will be in high demand along with those with knowledge about Blockchain Technology, E-Commerce, Machine Learning and AI. With these courses in high demand, it seems that the vanilla engineering degrees will lose their importance in the post-COVID world unless they have a strong Artificial Intelligence component.
According to the director of IIT Delhi Ranjan Bose, the institutes must start focussing on offering AI/ML courses both at the UG and PG levels. He believes that the post-COVID world is going to bring in huge opportunities for the new engineering areas especially AMOEBA - Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Optical Communications, E-Commerce, Blockchain Technology and Autonomous Vehicles.
According to Vineeth N Balasubramaniyam, Head of the Department of Artificial Intelligence of IIT Hyderabad, each engineering stream should start infusing Artificial Intelligence (AI) related courses to make them industry-relevant. He believes that if each engineering student is well-aware of the contemporary technologies, then it will augur well for them in terms of remuneration and career growth.
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During the 1980s, a B.Tech or a B.E degree was a ticket to excellent job opportunities in not only India but abroad as well due to the boom of the IT sector. The saturation point began to creep in the 2008 and post-2008 era where the companies started hiring engineers due to the lack of better options and started investing in them to become AI specialists or data scientists. But, in contemporary times, the companies are preferring to hire those engineers who have a minor in AI in addition to their vanilla engineering degrees.
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As per the latest LinkedIn Emerging Jobs Report, in India alone, there is a vacancy for approximately 1.50 lakh data scientists and the numbers are expected to increase rather decrease in the years to come. Also, this report suggests that in future, the top three emerging job profiles will be a data scientist, robotic engineer and AI specialist.