With organizations embracing tech-driven transforms, workplaces have undergone an irreversible change. Moving towards a transformative future of work, the expectations of the present generation of the workforce are different from the previous generations. EPAM Systems India Private Limited (EPAM India), a leading digital transformation services and CyberMedia Research (CMR) commissioned a joint study to better understand modern engineers’ aspirations within the emerging workplace. The survey with 800+ engineers from diverse tech roles, aged 23 to 30 with 1 to 7 years of work experience and hailing from 8 major cities in India with the highest concentration of modern engineers revealed some interesting insights.
- 93% of modern engineers seek upskilling opportunities in AI, Cloud, and other new-age technologies
- 92% of modern engineers look for opportunities to enhance their problem-solving skills to identify and implement the best solutions.
- 91% of respondents stated that future developmental and on-job training opportunities are their top expectations from their workplaces
Career Aspirations and Learning
Delving deeper into their career aspirations, the study findings suggest that modern engineers are keen on accelerating their learning curve and expect their organizations to support this by creating learning pathways. In this respect, a significant majority of 80% of survey participants find practices like competency centers crucial for assisting employees in acquiring technical knowledge and developing problem-solving skills. Concerning tech domain preferences, two in every five modern engineers seek to learn Microservice architecture. Java is the most popular programming language, as 55% of participants regarded so. The survey results demonstrated that the career aspirations of modern engineers vary with age. 57% of modern engineers aged 25 years or under look for faster career promotions, whereas more than half of those between 26 and 30 are more invested in exploring career expansion opportunities through learning.
Expectations Regarding Ways of Working
Modern engineers look for a competitive work environment and access to modern tech while achieving a bigger purpose and meaning from their careers. They look for agile and flexible ways of working to stay ahead of the curve. 48% of survey participants find design thinking and nearly equal share said opportunities to express their creativity as key elements of a competitive modern work environment. New-age collaboration and real-time monitoring tools and techniques are considered essential practices for creating an agile working environment by 46% of modern engineers. Nearly half of the respondents stated that a work culture supporting flexibility and work-life balance is crucial for them. Certain aspects, like the flexibility to work from anywhere and anytime, were found to be more critical to modern women engineers than their counterparts.
When asked about their existing companies, the most positive views captured were about the use of real-time monitoring tools and techniques at the current workplaces, as cited 78% of modern engineers. However, survey responses were much less positive regarding a few of their other top expectations. A two-thirds majority of the respondents feel that their existing companies require to focus on working with the latest technologies. Nearly 60% of the participants think their workplaces need to offer more space to express creativity and promote design thinking.
Future Perspective
While organizations are pivoting towards AI and digital transformation, a young, smart, and bold engineer wants to create a more significant impact in society, solving its complex problems, working on what’s latest and with ease in a newly defined work environment. They are invested in shaping their future with clear career aspirations, social innovation, and sustainability goals. Regarding their perspective for the future, 68% and 46% of modern engineers, respectively, believe that Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence will be the demand in the future, enabling enhancing consumer experience and collaboration.
Commenting on the report, Mr Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director (India GDO Head) at EPAM Systems, Inc., said, “The corporate workforce has seen its fair share of transformations that have altered the traditional ways of doing business across different sectors. While most conversations have focused on CxO perspectives and enterprise initiatives, the study is a major step forward in moving the needle beyond the ‘enterprise,’ to the ‘employee’ and specifically towards ‘modern engineers.’ The report reveals some interesting insights, and we are confident that businesses will benefit from this. At EPAM, we have closely monitored the findings and look forward to leveraging these to design our employee engagement and training initiatives.”