Top 10 Technology Trends in Malaysia for Students to Watch Out in Order to Choose the Right Course

Future Technology Trends in Malaysia to Help Students Choose the Right Course

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Technology today is evolving at such a rapid pace, enabling faster change and progress. Technology will impact the jobs of tomorrow and if you did not prepare beforehand by choosing the right course, you could end up jobless or obsolete when you graduate. Due to the surge in talent demand for technology professionals in Malaysia, students should choose these courses in order to meet the job demand.

According to Jaya Dass, Managing Director for Randstad Malaysia and Singapore  “Companies’ increasing focus on digital transformation will drive talent demand and shape the local workforce in 2021. There will be demand for highly specialised talent, particularly in areas such as Internet of Things, software development, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, robotics, project migration and change management.”

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Urgent and Unprecedented Demand for Technology Talent in Malaysia

The demand for technology has in turn created an urgent and unprecedented demand for tech talent, and there is a rising requirement for digital skills in every function across an organisation, The focus on technology advancements and talent development has created more job opportunities for the Malaysian workforce.

The success of the technology sector depends heavily on having a mix of local and foreign talent to facilitate knowledge transfer and build processes that take into account global knowledge and local nuances. Due to the surge in talent demand for technology professionals, students should choose these courses in order to meet the job demand.

What does this mean for you? It means staying current with new technology trends. And it means keeping your eyes on the future to know which skills you’ll need to know to secure a safe job tomorrow and even learn how to get there. Smart students who choose the right courses that have future high job demand and salary will ensure that they have life that’s stable and secure.

Top 10 Future Technology Jobs with High Job Demand in Malaysia

What are the best careers for the future? How will everything change? Is it possible to prepare for the jobs of tomorrow—today? Many of us would love to have definitive answers for these questions. But, of course, nobody can say for sure what the future holds. The best that students can do is to make educated guesses based on the technological trends that’s developing.

Part of finding the right career in Malaysia for you will be looking at the future job demand in Malaysia and globally. You don’t want to have completed a degree course and then not be able to find a job or realise that the job pays very low salary. Therefore, it is important for students after high school or Pre-University to choose the right course to study – you don’t want to waste your time and money on a course you don’t want to do or worse being unemployed finding out that the course you have studied does not have any job demand.

When students do their research and check out what the future technological advancements would be, you can choose the right course that will fit into one of the jobs that would be created.

Here are ten top technological trends that’s coming up in Malaysia that students should pay attention to.

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has already received a lot of buzz in the past decade, but it continues to be one of the new technology trends because of its notable effects on how we live, work and play are only in the early stages. AI is already known for its superiority in image and speech recognition, navigation apps, smartphone personal assistants, ride-sharing apps and so much more.

Other than that AI will be used further to analyze interactions to determine underlying connections and insights, to help predict demand for services like hospitals enabling authorities to make better decisions about resource utilization, and to detect the changing patterns of customer behaviour by analyzing data in near real-time, driving revenues and enhancing personalized experiences.

The AI market will grow to a $190 billion industry by 2025 with global spending on cognitive and AI systems reaching over $57 billion in 2021. With AI spreading its wings across sectors, new jobs will be created in development, programming, testing, support and maintenance, to name a few.

• In Malaysia, IT spending in 2018 is forecast to rise 5.7% to RM65.2 billion, faster than the projected global pace of 4.5%. The increased spending will be focus on adopting business digitalisation, blockchain technology and big data to encourage learning and artificial intelligence. According to Kelly Services 2018/2019 Salary Guide, 1 million professionals in the digital space is required in Malaysia by 2025.
• 11 per cent to 54 per cent of jobs in Malaysia can be significantly affected by AI in the next two decades and 7.4 per cent of Malaysian workers are at risk of being displaced by 2028.

Machine Learning the subset of AI, is also being deployed in all kinds of industries, creating a huge demand for skilled professionals. Forrester predicts AI, machine learning, and automation will create 9 percent of new U.S. jobs by 2025, jobs including robot monitoring professionals, data scientists, automation specialists, and content curators, making it another new technology trend you must keep in mind too!

Students interested in working in Ai can go for degree programmes in computer science or artificial intelligence.

2. Cyber Security

Cyber security might not seem like an emerging technology, given that it has been around for a while, but it is evolving just as other technologies are. That’s in part because threats are constantly new.

The malevolent hackers who are trying to illegally access data are not going to give up any time soon, and they will continue to find ways to get through even the toughest security measures. It’s also in part because new technology is being adapted to enhance security.

As long as we have hackers, cybersecurity will remain a trending technology because it will constantly evolve to defend against those hackers.

As proof of the strong need for cybersecurity professionals, the number of cybersecurity jobs is growing three times faster than other tech jobs. Also, the need for proper cyber security is so high that by 2021, $6 trillion will be spent globally on cybersecurity.

In Malaysia, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has teamed up with global technology and information security association ISACA to address the shortage of cyber security professionals in our country. There are currently 6,300 cyber security professionals in Malaysia and a target has been set to provide 10,000 professionals by 2020.

Cybersecurity concerns, and corresponding countermeasures, will also likely be a major investment theme as major cyber-attacks continually made making headlines. Candidates who are skilled in OpenSource, DevOps or cyber security are limited in number but essential to digital development plans, so they will be highly sought after.

• 3.5 Million: A study by CyberSecurity Ventures shows that by 2021 there will be a deficit of 3.5 million cyber security professionals in the world
• 10,500: Number of cybersecurity talent demand in Malaysia by the year 2020 (Source: Frost & Sullivan’s recent digital talent study)
• Top 10% of job opportunities in Malaysia is related to cybersecurity. (Source: Talent Pool Report Pro – Oct 2017)
• 21%: The percentage of women in Malaysian cybersecurity Workforce (Source: Dec 2017 LinkedIn Report)
• USD 632.6M: Estimated value of Malaysia’s overall security services market in 2021 (Source: IDC market Security product and services forecast, 2H16)

Students wanting to pursue a career in this exciting career can go for a degree in Cyber Security, Computer Science or Software Engineering.

3. Data Science

Data Scientists and Big Data Specialists worldwide now and in the future, with hundreds of thousands of new job opportunities emerging globally. In Malaysia alone, by the year 2020 this need is expected to reach at least 20,000 data professionals and 2000 data scientists. Job demand as well as salary for qualified Data Scientists or Big Data Professionals in Malaysia is high

With the rise of Big Data, Machine Learning and Deep Learning, the demand for quantitative analysts and data scientists is also on the rise, not only at FinTech start-ups, but also at large investment banks and hedge funds. These professionals write and execute complex financial models that can sift through and make sense of vast amounts of digital information. They may also design data-driven trading programmes, develop innovative algorithms using quantum computing and automate financial processes to minimise human inputs.

A report from the recent Digital Workforce of The Future by LinkedIn, which revealed that a combination of skills encompassing Big Data, data analytics and web development registered a 21% growth in demand. In Malaysia, the top five in-demand digital skills are big data, software and user testing, mobile development, Cloud computing and software engineering management.

Data science candidates need not only have research-level experience but also familiarisation with production-level ML. Solid understanding of programming languages such as R, Python and MALLET is a must.

They also need to have hands-on experience with tools such as Tensorflow, Dialogflow and have worked on projects with large data sets. Having a profile showcasing technical skills on Kaggle and Github has become mandatory.

• Big Data Analytics Cloud and big data are anticipated to record significant growth in the next few years
• MDEC to set up an innovation lab for enterprises to test and access analytics tools that use cloud technology
• US$640.0 million projected value of cloud investments in Malaysia by 2020
• US$196.0 million projected spending in BDA in 2017.
• In 2017, Alibaba Cloud announced plans to build a cloud platform in Malaysia to enable local SMEs to succeed in the digital age

To succeed in this career, students should go for top private universities offering the data science programme.

4. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Like AI and Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automation, or RPA, is another technology that is automating jobs. RPA is the use of software to automate business processes such as interpreting applications, processing transactions, dealing with data, and even replying to emails. RPA automates repetitive tasks that people used to do.

Although Forrester Research estimates RPA automation will threaten the livelihood of 230 million or more knowledge workers, or approximately 9 percent of the global workforce, RPA is also creating new jobs while altering existing jobs. McKinsey finds that less than 5 percent of occupations can be totally automated, but about 60 percent can be partially automated.

For you as an IT professional looking to the future and trying to understand new technology trends, RPA offers plenty of career opportunities, including developer, project manager, business analyst, solution architect and consultant. And these jobs pay well.

Students looking to work in this area can go for degree programmes in Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Mechatronic Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science or Artificial Intelligence.

5. Edge Computing

Formerly a new technology trend to watch, cloud computing has become mainstream, with major players AWS (Amazon Web Services), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform dominating the market. The adoption of cloud computing is still growing, as more and more businesses migrate to a cloud solution. But it’s no longer the emerging technology trend. Edge is.

As the quantity of data organizations are dealing with continues to increase, they have realized the shortcomings of cloud computing in some situations. Edge computing is designed to help solve some of those problems as a way to bypass the latency caused by cloud computing and getting data to a datacenter for processing.

It can exist “on the edge,” if you will, closer to where computing needs to happen. For this reason, edge computing can be used to process time-sensitive data in remote locations with limited or no connectivity to a centralized location. In those situations, edge computing can act like mini datacenters.

Edge computing will increase as use of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices increases. By 2022, the global edge computing market is expected to reach $6.72 billion. And this new technology trend is only meant to grow and nothing less, creating various jobs, primarily for software engineers.

Degree programmes in Computer Science, Software Engineering and Cloud Computing are in demand for this field of work.

6. Quantum Computing

Next remarkable technology trend is quantum computing, which is a form of computing that takes advantage of quantum phenomena like superposition and quantum entanglement. This amazing technology trend is also involved in preventing the spread of the coronavirus, and to develop potential vaccines, thanks to its ability to easily query, monitor, analyze and act on data, regardless of the source. Another field where quantum computing is finding applications is banking and finance, to manage credit risk, for high frequency trading and fraud detection.

Quantum computers are now a multitude times faster than regular computers and huge brands like Splunk, Honeywell, Microsoft, AWS, Google and many others are now involved in making innovations in the field of Quantum Computing. The revenues for the global quantum computing market are projected to surpass $2.5 billion by 2029. And to make a mark in this new trending technology, you need to have experience with quantum mechanics, linear algebra, probability, information theory, and machine learning.

Students desiring to work in this field may go for a degree in computer science, cloud computing or Artificial Intelligence.

7. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)

The next exceptional technology trend – Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), and Extended Reality (ER). VR immerses the user in an environment while AR enhances their environment. Although this technology trend has primarily been used for gaming thus far, it has also been used for training, as with VirtualShip, a simulation software used to train U.S. Navy, Army and Coast Guard ship captains.

In 2021, we can expect these forms of technologies being further integrated into our lives. Usually working in tandem with some of the other new technologies we’ve mentioned in this list, AR and VR have enormous potential in training, entertainment, education, marketing, and even rehabilitation after an injury.

Either could be used to train doctors to do surgery, offer museum goers a deeper experience, enhance theme parks, or even enhance marketing.

Around 14 million AR and VR devices were sold in 2019. The global AR and VR market is expected to grow to $209.2 billion by 2022, only creating more opportunities in the trending technology, and welcoming more professionals ready for this game-changing field.

Students interested in this field of work can go for a degree course in AR/VR at a top private university in Malaysia.

8. Blockchain

Although most people think of blockchain technology in relation to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, blockchain offers security that is useful in many other ways. In the simplest of terms, blockchain can be described as data you can only add to, not take away from or change.

Hence the term “chain” because you’re making a chain of data. Not being able to change the previous blocks is what makes it so secure. In addition, blockchains are consensus-driven, so no one entity can take control of the data. With blockchain, you don’t need a trusted third-party to oversee or validate transactions.

Several industries are involving and implementing blockchain, and as the use of blockchain technology increases, so too does the demand for skilled professionals. From a birds eye view, a blockchain developer specializes in developing and implementing architecture and solutions using blockchain technology.

According to MBA statistics, once digital strategies such as blockchain were in place, projected growth of 15-20% in GDP could be expected. MaGIC, an innovation centre under MED and Malaysia Blockchain Association (MBA) were both commended for working as catalysts driving blockchain technology forward, engaging with both government and public.

If you are intrigued by Blockchain and its applications and want to make your career in this trending technology, then this is the right time to start. To get into Blockchain, you need to have hands-on experience of programming languages, the fundamentals of OOPS, flat and relational databases, data structures, web app development, and networking. Computer Science Degree programmes with specialisations in Fintech or Blockchain would be advantageous

9. Internet of Things (IoT)

Another promising new technology trend is the Internet of Things or IoT. Many “things” are now being built with WiFi connectivity, meaning they can be connected to the Internet—and to each other. Hence, the Internet of Things, or IoT. The Internet of Things is the future, and has already enabled devices, home appliances, cars and much more to be connected to and exchange data over the Internet.

As consumers, we’re already using and benefitting from IoT. We can lock our doors remotely if we forget to when we leave for work and preheat our ovens on our way home from work, all while tracking our fitness on our Fitbits. However, businesses also have much to gain now and in the near future.

The IoT can enable better safety, efficiency and decision making for businesses as data is collected and analyzed. It can enable predictive maintenance, speed up medical care, improve customer service, and offer benefits we haven’t even imagined yet.

And we’re only in the beginning stages of this new technology trend: Forecasts suggest that by 2030 around 50 billion of these IoT devices will be in use around the world, creating a massive web of interconnected devices spanning everything from smartphones to kitchen appliances. The global spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) is forecast to reach 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022. New technologies such as 5G is expected to drive market growth in the coming years.

• Gartner predicts that by 2017, 50 percent of IoT solutions (typically a product combined with a service) will originate in startups that are less than three years old. Malaysia also have their own IoT Ecosystem. Over the recent years, technology companies have developed more devices with capabilities to be connected to the Internet — including watches, televisions, cameras and others. A separate report by IHS Markit also suggested that there will be more than 20 billion connected devices in 2020.
• In Malaysia, the IoT industry is expected to generate over 14,000 new jobs and contribute billions of ringgit to the economy. According to MIMOS, the implementation of IoT is also likely to contribute RM9.5 billion to Malaysia’s gross national income by 2020, and RM42.5 billion by 2025. From the RM42.5 billion projection, RM34 billion will be driven by apps and services, as well as analytics solutions. Separately, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation added that IoT is likely to create over 14,270 high-skilled employment opportunities by 2020.
• Advancements in IoT are anticipated to drive smart city initiatives such as transforming Cyberjaya into a “living lab” for IoT implementations 1. $9.7 billion is the targeted economic value of IoT by 2025 from $2.2 billion in 2020
• Alibaba Group to assist local entrepreneurs and start-ups in training and developing etalents through IoT technology
• 125,000,000 connected devices in Malaysia by 2025
• Malaysia leading ASEAN in the use of IoT through pilot projects in agriculture and healthcare, e.g., smart farming and continuous healthcare monitoring
• Huawei collaborating with Sarawak State Government to promote IoT solutions, e.g., smart city planning
• UEM Edgenta and Microsoft partnership to drive digital initiatives based on cutting-edge technologies, such as IoT, predictive data analytics, machine learning, and augmented reality

And if you wish to step foot in this trending technology, you will have to learn about Information security, AI and machine learning fundamentals, networking, hardware interfacing, data analytics, automation, understanding of embedded systems, and must have device and design knowledge.

Graduates in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence (Ai), Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering or Mechatronic Engineering may venture into the field of Internet of Things (IoT),

10. 5G

The next technology trend that follows the IoT is 5G. Where 3G and 4G technologies have enabled us to browse the internet, use data driven services, increased bandwidths for streaming on Spotify or YouTube and so much more, 5G services are expected to revolutionize our lives.

By enabling services that rely on advanced technologies like AR and VR, alongside cloud based gaming services like Google Stadia, NVidia GeForce Now and much more. It is expected to be used in factories, HD cameras that help improve safety and traffic management, smart grid control and smart retail too.

Just about every telecom company in Malaysia like Maxis, Digi, Axiata or Verizon, Tmobile, Apple, Nokia Corp, QualComm in the USA, are now working on creating 5G applications. 5G services are expected to launch worldwide in 2021 with more than 50 operators offering services in about 30 countries by the end of 2021, making it a new technology trend you must watch out for, and also save a spot in.

Graduates in Electrical & Electronic Engineering or Telecommunications Engineering are ideal to work in this field.