Software services industry from being relatively
unrecognized a few decades ago, has now grown to a level of possibly
influencing every being on earth and beyond. Demand for the software industry
and its growth initiated with the introduction of the personal computer to the
layman. Thereafter the evolution of hardware and their capabilities, catalyzed
by the invention of the internet, has been relying heavily on the software
industry to deliver experiences human race had never gone through. Who would
have imagined at times of the infancy of the PC that a day would come when a portable
device with a touch screen would allow its user to watch live what’s happening on
the other side of the world?
The ever increasing production of various gadgets by
different vendors has made the software industry more competitive and diverse. A
telling example of this is the distinctive differences seen in smart phone
platforms available today, ranging from iOS for Apple, Andorid for Google,
Windows for Microsoft, Symbian for Nokia and the list goes on.
Though most would agree that the presence of high competition
is good for the industry, its been a roller-coaster ride to those working in
the industry. Change and the rate of change sweeping the industry puts a lot of
demand on IT engineers to keep themselves up to date with modern technology and
innovations. Failure identify change and re-adjust accordingly, will leave
often lead to an IT professional with a ruined career. If an MS-DOS programmer
did not see a need to learn and switch to Windows development when Windows was released
to the market, he or she would have soon the lost job and have difficulty
finding a new one.
The phenomenon is the same for IT students. Most students pursuing
IT education are taught subjects that are in demand in the industry during the period
of their study. But new subjects
introduced by a brand new development or an innovation could put older subjects
out of demand once the students are ready for employment. For example, cloud
computing is a recent development which has altered the way traditional web
technologies work. Students will have to unlearn old concepts and learn new ones
to adapt with change.
