Hiring activity in India has picked up, indicative of a strong revival of Digital Native Economies, and engineers find themselves at the forefront of this demand.

By Jiny Thattil,

Recruitment and hiring in India have ebbed and flowed, with companies changing strategies over the last decade to accommodate the transformations brought about by the startup boom. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition to digital in every aspect of life — be it education, communication, or business. A direct result of this adoption has been a stellar rise in demand for technology and software professionals not only across startups, multinationals, and IT companies but also in non-technical sectors. Data shows that in June 2021, hiring demand by the IT software and services sector was 55 percent higher than it was in January 2021, and 51 percent higher than it was in June 2019.

Hiring activity in India has picked up, indicative of a strong revival of digital native economies, and engineers find themselves at the forefront of this demand.

Despite the disruptions, organisations on the technology spectrum — be it product companies, service providers, or startups — are realising new operational efficiencies, thanks to connected technologies and investments. They are seizing these new opportunities by employing fresh talent to lead the way through the disruption.

It is estimated that more than 15 lakh engineers graduate in India every year. Despite the surge in demand for technical roles today, hiring the right Engineering talent is a challenge for companies. So, what are some of the key aspects of hiring engineers in today’s robust work environment?

Engineering excellence and functional knowledge

Identifying impediments that prevent engineers from doing their best job is perhaps the most crucial aspect that recruiters must look out for. Next comes their understanding of technical skills, expertise, and functional knowledge. Engineers at their core are builders who make an impact to help solve complex problems. Knowing if engineers in your team have built a product for a few users or the world is crucial to understand the scale of problems they have solved for. Striving for excellence is a cornerstone for any profession, but problem-solving, project management, and execution ability are key adjacent skills while onboarding engineers.

Data-driven, quick decision making

From framing challenges to exploring alternative solutions to gauging profitability while making operational decisions, businesses require engineering at the highest level. Data-driven business decisions indeed make or break companies and it is via this data-driven decision organizations learn and gain knowledge. However, engineering holds the key to Big Data’s ascension up the corporate ladder and into the realm of strategic decision-making. So, a crucial quality that engineering recruiters must look for is how rapidly engineers can make data-driven judgments, iterate quickly, and adapt

Incremental innovation

It is true that disruptive and radical innovations provide a competitive advantage in technology, design engineering, and entrepreneurship. However, it is imperative that engineering talent must be adept at incremental innovation – one that focuses on marginal improvements to what already exists. It is a key factor in being fast to market and having the agility to adapt as per changing needs of customers. For companies – startups or otherwise – incremental innovation is a strategy that has a massive impact. People frequently overlook its importance or dismiss its slow and steady approach. However, when hundreds of thousands of small changes are added together, the impact created can help businesses increase product diversification, reduce risks and lower costs and remain competitive.

Interpersonal skills

A modern and evolving workplace requires more than purely technical expertise. Often, recruiters seek to combine technical skills and transferable or soft skills. What new graduates should always keep in mind is that technical skills alone are not enough to guarantee the success of an engineering profession – it also requires a strong working ethic to perform as a team member. Product creation, business operations, and technology innovation are not a one-person job and the attitude of engineers towards collaboration in a team setting is an essential checklist. Much like creativity and innovation, the ability to continually experiment, learn from mistakes and collaborate as a team are also invaluable, especially in a startup environment where challenges arise daily.

Communication

It is important to provide clarity in communication to decision-makers so that ideas and solutions have a great chance to succeed. As a result, the ability to clearly communicate across team members, business stakeholders, and customers is a distinct advantage in the field of engineering and innovation.

In today’s fast-paced environment, companies look for engineers with a passion to push themselves to experiment, have demonstrated tech expertise, solved complex problems through teamwork, and built impactful products.

(The author is Sr. Vice President – Engineering, BYJU’S. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Financial Express Online.)