The Evolution of the Software Industry - and a word of caution to those in the industry

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.