The IT industry is changing rapidly with the emergence of growing technologies and programming frameworks. You have to not only learn the concepts but also regularly update the core aspects to stay ahead of the competition. In this interview, Joydip Kanjilal took time to answer our questions regarding the future of IT. If you are unaware, Joydip has published over dozen books to his credit and have extensive experience in the programming field for more than 20 years.
How do you see the IT world now compared to 10 years back?
Imagine the world a decade ago – you couldn’t order an Uber on your phone. You couldn’t surf the web on Google Chrome. The technology enhancements over the past decade have been just incredible, isn’t it? Technology runs our lives these days. Smartphones, tablets, and computers – we just can’t spend a day without them.
The IT industry has seen remarkable growth over the past decade in India and abroad. The industry has seen staggering technological changes. More and more applications have been built for the mobile; AI, ML, and IoT has now become a reality! As technological change accelerates day by day, one should be well equipped to stay ahead in the race.
What is the adoption rate of .NET Core in the IT industry?
I’ve been in this industry a long time – long enough to remember when .NET was first introduced. The battle between Java and .NET started when Sun Microsystems sued Microsoft in the late 1990s for putting too much Redmond sauce in J++. As a result, C# was born.
The emergence of .NET Core is a gateway to the Azure business model. Microsoft’s .NET core runs on Linux, OSx and Windows platforms. Now that .NET have already become open source, this cross-platform managed framework from the software giant Microsoft would have a wider reach as far as the development community the world over is concerned.
Albeit the fact that Java packs far more functionality and mature ecosystem on Linux servers than .NET Core, Microsoft’s .NET Core is bridging this gap – and doing it fast, says Joydip Kanjilal.
Is there any recession now in the IT industry?
When you watch the news channels or read the newspapers these days, you will often be able to see concerns related to economy and debates over whether the United States is heading into another recession — or is already in one. Recession can come in any sector and when it hits it takes the whole economy down with it.
With all this talk of an impending economic downturn, you may be wondering what you can do to survive a recession in the IT industry. A recent study by Aspiring Minds stated that an alarming 95% of engineers in India (read it here:
https://qz.com/964843/less-than-5-of-india-engineers-are-cut-out-for-high-skill-programming-jobs/) are unfit for high-level programming jobs – a triumph of quantity over quality when it comes to Indian engineering talents. This comes at a time when technologies and tools are evolving rapidly. Recessions can come and go but opportunities in IT will always be there. One just needs to have the right skills to grab them. Why should surviving an IT recession be hard to one who is really talented?
What is the importance of AI and ML in the IT industry?
According to Joydip Kanjilal, Technology is constantly evolving and adapting to boost everyday efficiency and make our lives easier, faster and comfortable. Modern tools give us the power to connect from around the globe and bridge gaps as soon as they appear. One such advancement is the rise of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Artificial intelligence (AI), largely manifesting through machine learning algorithms, isn’t just getting better and popular. It isn’t just getting more funding and is being incorporated into a more diverse range of applications day by day. The demand for professionals with expertise in Machine Learning is growing day by day.
You can leverage Machine Learning to enable your computers to get into a mode of self-learning without being explicitly programmed. When exposed to new data, these computer programs are enabled to learn, grow, change, and develop by themselves. You’ll see its applicability everywhere – from retail to banking to self – driven cars, fraud detection and, to what not!
Can you share with us why devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home are becoming popular?
Google Home And Amazon Echo are smart speakers – you can use either of them to play music, make calls, send and receive messages, provide information, news, sports scores, weather, and more – instantly. A steady Wi-Fi connection and a smartphone are the pre-requisites for using either of the devices. According to a recent survey, one in six Americans now owns a smart speaker. The devices connect to the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service Alexa.
Is Java more popular than .NET Framework?
Java has had much more time to establish itself on all software platforms (Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android). C#, until fairly recently, was largely Windows-centric. The Java Virtual Machine is more mature than .NET CLR. However, whether Java is more popular than C# is debatable but I must say that C# is a beautiful language with many advancements over Java language.
Why programming languages are getting outdated after a while?
As developers embrace new programming languages, older languages can go in one of two ways: stay in use, despite fading popularity, or die out completely. Perl and Ruby may die eventually but not easily – Object Pascal though is in this list despite its one-time popularity.
Do you think whether the languages such as COBOL, FORTRAN still exists?
Programming languages definitely go out of style, but they rarely die. IMHO, FORTRAN is still alive and doing well – it is still a dominant language for the large-scale simulation of physical systems, i.e., for things like the astrophysical modeling of stars and galaxies, hydrodynamics codes, etc. COBOL is not dead either – it is still widely used in legacy applications deployed on mainframe computers, such as large-scale batch and transaction processing jobs.
What is your advice for emerging developers?
The rising economic and business impact of information technology means that competition will heat up for graduates – in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics streams.
Here’s my advice for the emerging developers:
Learn the language, framework, tools – build your fundamentals right. Learn to write clean, reusable code that’s easier to read, test and maintain. One should be able to constantly unlearn (if need be), learn the new trends in the industry and apply them as and when needed. Be focused, motivated and disciplined – just stay ahead of the race.
To survive in this fast-paced industry, be productive and stay ahead of the crowd. Let work speak for itself. You shouldn’t ever feel that you’re in competition with your peers; be in competition only with yourself. A flower doesn’t need to think of competing with the one next to it – it just blooms. Isn’t it?
Why are companies laying off employees frequently?
The hard reality is, there’s no scope for non-performers in the IT industry. The industry is filled with many non-performers – those who are unwilling to learn or adapt to new and emerging technologies. For this industry to move ahead in the decades to come, it has to let go the underperformers – I don’t see anything wrong in letting the underperforming employees go.
