Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2021. Read them in this 13th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Modern Technologies and the Workforce
By Chris Nguyen, LogDNA Co-founder and
Chief Strategy Officer
This year has challenged people in every
industry in every country across the globe. Many lost their jobs and were
forced to slow down, reflect, and take the future of their career into their
own hands. I see this as an opportunity for many talented individuals who were
laid off from tech jobs to start new ventures and solve the most pressing
problems that our society faces today. There's also an opportunity for people
who were laid off from less-resilient industries to transition into tech. New
businesses and new talent mean that modern technologies like Cloud, Kubernetes,
and Serverless will be defacto standards in 2021 and beyond.
Prediction
1: There will be a wave of new tech startups
Throughout history, we've seen recessions and
mass layoffs as a driving force for individuals to start their own businesses.
Technology professionals who lost their jobs in 2020 have an opportunity to use
the skills they built on corporate America's dime to solve the problems that
the world faces today. These innovators are thinking about the new products and
services that will solve problems that didn't exist before the pandemic. These
might include solutions for remote work, mental health, delivery and on-demand
services, and contactless everything.
The good news for this wave of startups is
that there's no shortage of capital available to them. The success of IPOs like
Airbnb and JFrog in 2020 validated that technology companies stayed strong
during the pandemic while industries like airlines and hospitality were more
volatile. Investors and entrepreneurs alike will focus on modern technologies
and practices that are more reliable in the wake of another pandemic or natural
disaster. That means developers are more likely to use technology like
Kubernetes to deploy across multiple clouds for redundancy and to prevent
vendor lock-in. They'll be working smarter, not harder, and will leverage
best-in-class developer tools to build their technology stacks rather than using
cumbersome all-in-one solutions.
Prediction
2: There will be an influx of new and more diverse talent in the tech industry
The pandemic decimated industries like
hospitality and retail and many jobs may never make a full return. As many of
the people who lost their jobs were thinking about their next venture, they
were also forced to see how central technology is to other parts of their lives
-- from online classrooms for their children to virtual doctor's appointments
and grocery delivery. This has been a driving factor for these individuals to
take inventory of their skills and see how they can apply or grow them within
the tech industry.
For those who want to build their skills,
there are many avenues available to them, including online certificate programs,
accelerators, and boot camps. I see that trend continuing as more people push
back on traditional degree programs that put them hundreds of thousands of
dollars in debt and get them the same entry-level job as the person who taught
themselves to code.
As these new people join our teams, it's more
important than ever that we're giving them the tools they need to succeed. Many
solutions on the market saw this trend coming and optimized their products to
have an intuitive user experience.
I'm so excited to see this diverse new pool of
candidates and startups enter the industry, and I'd like to challenge all of us
to focus on a few things.
- Be
empathetic - it's hard to start a new career or a new business, especially
during a global pandemic.
- Be a source
of knowledge - the more we share what we've learned over the years, the
more educated the entire industry will be.
- Take action
- you may be the person that can hire the next generation of great
engineers or the one who can help fund the innovation that protects us
from the next pandemic.
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About the Author
Chris Nguyen is the Chief Strategy Officer
and Co-founder of LogDNA. Chris was the company's founding CEO from 2016 to
2020. His leadership led to LogDNA's partnership with tech giant, IBM, and
recognition as a Forbes 2019 Cloud 100 Rising Star. Prior to LogDNA, Chris
founded two other companies with Lee Liu: TeamSave, a joint venture with eBay
Classified Group, and JobLoft, which was acquired by onTargetjobs/Warburg
Pincus Portfolio. He served as CEO of both companies. Chris holds a Bachelor of
Commerce in Information Technology from Ryerson University.