DEMANDS OF THE DIGITAL AGE FUEL CAREER CHOICES
▶ Students go for technology qualifications to get ahead in the job market
The rapid rise of digital industries has led some experts to claim students with skills in IT-related disciplines such as cybersecurity, data analysis and e-commerce are putting themselves in pole position to land top jobs.
One recruiter in the Emirates said businesses are intent on enhancing their online presence and need staff who can cope with the demands of the digital age.
The message comes as thousands of teenagers prepare to receive their A-level results.
“At this moment there’s quite a big trend to digitalisation and e-commerce,” said Waleed Anwar of Harmony Connections, a recruitment consultancy in Dubai.
“It’s a new trend in this region. A lot of our clients, particularly in retail and consumer goods, are looking at their presence online. Everyone is moving towards e-commerce,” he said.
Mr Anwar said there was also high demand in the Emirates for graduates with more general business studies or commerce degrees.
According to the College Salary Report in the US, computer science graduates with up to five years’ experience earn on average $68,800 (Dh252,700) a year. For software engineers the figure is $69,100, for cybersecurity graduates it is $55,000 and for business graduates it is $46,500.
In comparison, history graduates can expect to earn $44,000 a year in their first five years, while English literature graduates collect $43,600.
A report published by the Dubai Statistics Centre in May indicated that students already have technology in mind when deciding what subjects to study at university.
The figures revealed that 4,359 of the 55,820 students in the city were enrolled in IT courses in 2017-2018, more than were taking subjects such as medicine, law or natural and sciences.
A university in Dubai will this year begin offering a course that teaches students videogame development and digital animation.
Starting in September, the University of Wollongong in Dubai will launch the fouryear course in which students will learn about game design, animation, visual communications, mobile applications, journalism, graphic design and social media.
“We are trying to anticipate the kind of technical skills that students will require in the coming years and are planning for jobs that do not exist yet,” said Dr Feras Hamza, head of the School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Health.
Alan Bullock, who runs Alan Bullock Careers and has given talks to schools in the UAE about career options, said that digital industries offered opportunities for graduates and non-graduates.
In the UK, he said, many train through higher apprenticeships – programmes in which employees study part time.
“In terms of degrees and higher apprenticeships, certainly the largest area is digital. We’re talking about things like software development, cybersecurity, data analysis, software testers, network engineers,” he said.
“Ten years ago, you almost never heard about these jobs; now there’s a big demand. Quite a lot of young people are going into these digital areas.”