I am really shocked to see a news about suicide by IT professional as he was worried about job security. This is really very bad but the discussion does not stop here. There may be many reasons behind such a grave step and I am not going to discuss them. However, one of the reason could be not able to visualize any future with existing skill set and I would like to discuss about it.
IT industry is changing very fast and so is the need to keep the skills relevant with the changing environment and technology. Now the question is what should be done by an IT professional to remain relevant.
First and foremost is to develop reading habit. One must be aware of the changing needs of the society and how technology is going to support the changing behavioral pattern of the society at large. The best way to achieve this objective is to subscribe to various newsletters, blogs, industry publications etc. In India government is one of the biggest spender in India and every techie must know what are the plans of the government. This will give you an idea about the skills that you may need perform your job. If you are not able to spare much time then internet is the best option to acquire new information.
Whenever you come across any new technological jargon, then note it down and do a complete research on this jargon. This will give you an idea about ongoing changes in the technology world.
A lot is happening in IT industry all the time and many seminars, boot camps etc are organised regularly. Select your area of interest and do attend some of these. Besides giving insight into new technology you will get an opportunity to grow your network.
Once of the biggest source of keeping your skill relevant is to keep an eye on open source tools and software. You can also contribute to the open source projects. The demand for open source software is increasing everyday. Standard products are embedding the functionality which is already available in opensource tools e.g SAPUI5 is based on OpenUI5.
Get certification. This is one of the most important action to keep relevant. Certifications are recognized all over world and are expensive. Enrollment for certification forces you to learn in a time bound manner. You can also enroll for some classroom training with any reputed IT training provider.
MOOC is the cheapest way to learn new skills. Make it a habit that at any point in time you have one MOOC course in progress.
Hope this will help you to understand the needs for keeping the skills relevant and means to achieve the objective.