By Kami Navarro
If you’ve been meaning to dip your toes into a tech or digital career, you’re in luck. In LinkedIn’s annual Jobs on the Rise report that analyzes job trends across fifteen countries shows that over 150 million new technology jobs will emerge in the next five years. In fact, many of the hottest jobs for 2021 can all be done remotely.
Similarly, in Singapore, over 12,000 jobs are available in the tech sector, with around 30 percent of roles considered to be ‘tech-lite’—that is, jobs that do not necessarily require a tech background or experience.
Though starting a digital career in tech may be daunting, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and its industry partners offer a plethora of opportunities to build your digital skills and get you started. Here’s a look at five different ways to ease yourself into a thriving tech career.
1. Learn from the best
From Southeast Asia’s first ‘decacorn’ company (with a valuation of over US$10 billion) to one of the world’s leading Internet platforms, kickstart a career with the companies leading the digital revolution.
Along with IMDA and Digital Industry Singapore (DISG), ride-hailing behemoth Grab is set to create around 350 new jobs in fields ranging from product management to cybersecurity. Meanwhile, Singtel has partnered IMDA, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Polytechnic (SP) to hire and train over 500 people in Singapore to develop 5G expertise over the next two years. Sea Limited, better known as the holding company for Shopee, has also partnered IMDA to hire and train 400 entry-level and 100 mid-career Singaporean jobseekers.
2. Top training for top minds
While it’s impossible to become a tech expert overnight, the various programmes offered under IMDA’s TeSA give individuals the opportunity to pick up tech skills through structured training offered by industry partners.
Through the Tech Immersion and Placement Programme in Singapore, for instance, those with limited to no tech background can take up immersive IT courses on topics like data science and full-stack web development to become ready for entry-level tech roles. Consider the example of Mrs Adilah, a designer turned user experience (UX) entrepreneur, who took up the User Experience Design Immersive at global technology education company General Assembly.
3. ‘Lite’ roles with big pay-offs
Beyond roles that are strictly technical, companies are also looking to train and hire for functions such as digital marketing and product management to keep operations afloat.
The TeSA Mid-Career Advance programme, in which Singaporeans aged 40 and above are reskilled or upskilled, provides a pathway to these tech-lite roles. For instance, ICT service providers NCS and Whale Cloud both have openings for project management roles that require no prior background in tech. Meanwhile, Singtel-backed big data firm DataSpark is on the lookout for product managers who can successfully transform insights into user-friendly products.
4. Pick up digital skills at PIXEL
With over 28,000 square feet of dedicated innovation space, PIXEL offers the perfect avenue for aspiring techies to ideate, experiment and build the digital experiences of tomorrow.
PIXEL organises regular virtual and in-person workshops that touch upon everything from leveraging artificial intelligence in design thinking to digital storytelling—and even innovating with 5G and AR/VR! So keep an eye out for the latest workshops and be prepared to dive straight into the exciting opportunities that arise at the intersection of emerging tech and media.
5. Go beyond the traditional
While most people associate a tech career with a buzzy start-up or tech juggernauts like Google or Facebook, increased digitalisation across all sectors of the economy means that even companies that fall outside the traditional tech sphere require individuals with digital skills.
IMDA-accredited company Novade, for instance, has available openings for full-stack developers, system engineers and even technical writers as they seek to bring the construction industry into the digital age. In the realm of health, 2019 Techblazer winner BioMind is looking for software and machine learning engineers and even interns to assist in imaging diagnosis, personalised treatment, clinical decision support, and medical rehabilitation.
Finally, antibody discovery company and 2020 Techblazer winner Hummingbird Bioscience, is actively recruiting software engineers, machine learning research scientists, and even a scientific communications manager with experience in therapeutics development.
From all these various initiatives and programmes, there’s clearly a wealth of opportunities in tech. So what are you waiting for? Check out the TechSkills Accelerator page at http://go.gov.sg/tesa to start riding the digital wave today!
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