BENGALURU: The past two months have borne discouraging news as far as employment prospects in the information technology sector are concerned. Those in the sector continue to live in an uncertain job atmosphere, even as several companies are announcing lay-offs of their employees.
Helping engineering students to make an entry to this challenging job market, Nasscom, in association with Aricent launched ARISE, a skill employability programme here on Tuesday. At the end of the training period, candidates will be Nasscom-certified, enhancing their job prospects.
ARISE aims at equipping students from tier-2 and tier-3 engineering colleges with job skills. It aims to reach out to 3,400 college students in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and the National Capital Region.
Emphasising the need for skill enhancement training in the present scenario, senior director and regional head, Nasscom, Ashok Pamidi said over the next three years, at least 50 per cent of the workforce will become redundant, unless they adapt to automation. While automation would not reduce jobs, it would create a new set of jobs that requires different skills.
ARISE will impart skills concerning computer programming languages, database management, software testing, project design, etc. Students will also be given training in spoken and written communication, etiquettes and interview skills.
Shrikant Sinha, CEO of Nasscom Foundation, said a pilot programme was launched last year and encouraged by the response, they decided to launch ARISE. “It is a training programme that is tailor-made for engineers, who want to join the IT industry.” The programme is being executed in coordination with iPRIMED, MindMap and Centum Learning.